Bonanza City Means Everything
by k-racer7
Summary: Kyle goes on the TV show "Kid Nation" and finally experiences reality for the first time ever.
1. Chapter 1

Bonanza City Means Everything

So, I will post my Kid Nation story, but with quite a few rule changes and modifications along the way. My character is Kyle, 15.

Day 1:

As I was sitting in the school bus, obviously wondering why in the world I'm on a Reality TV show for? I was sitting next to Alex. He was looking at his family photo this whole time. I asked him, what's your favorite subject in school? "Geography", he said. I responded with, "That is interesting; I'm a math genius myself!" After 1 hour or so taking trips around some dirt roads, obviously we are going to be famous or infamous some day; the bus finally stops.

When we got off the bus, I saw an adult man in the distance. After everybody was off with their stuff on their backs, he then spoke, "Hi, my name is John, nice to meet you, so how's everybody feeling"? I responded with "Okay, but a little scared." he then said, "say goodbye to that school bus, and hello to the middle of nowhere!" Everybody was then speechless as the school bus behind us left! As the host keeps babbling about our objective for the next 40 days, I noticed that Cody was desperate to talk to the host, but too bad the host didn't let him. Then, he said "that there are 5 leaders, and they were chosen while factoring in ethnic diversity and age variety". As soon as he said it, a helicopter flew in and landed behind us: Spreading dust all over our hair and faces, I was covering my whole face and so did everybody else.

When the dust finally settled, it took at least a couple minutes for that to happen! The five leaders were in front of us, they are: Kelsey, Guylan, Migle, Markelle, and Mike.

I thought, "Okay, hopefully they are good leaders." Then the host told us to start the wagon trail, because it's going to be a long hike. He then warned, "The next 40 days are tough, it's rough . . . but if you are not up to it . . . you can give up and quit."

Then Mike officially, try to pump us up, by saying the famous "are you ready?" And we were shouting out to the top of our lungs, and then the host said "GO!"

As we were debating about the best way to put our backpacks on the wagons, the council stayed with the host, and then the goats ran away from us. Thank goodness, Greg stepped up and gathered all of the goats before they got too far into the middle of the desert. I was pulling one of the wagons with Alex and Brett.

But about a third of the way through the wagon trail, Mike was being a bitch, towards Greg, the 2nd oldest person on the show. I'm older than him by 2 months. He then tried to pull his wagon all by himself but can't. So, Greg decided to take back control of the wagon, and then we continued on

It was hard to keep the wagons on the road and occasionally things will fall off from the wagon that happened to a few of them along the way. But about three-quarters of the way through, DK was injured, but thankfully it was just a minor leg cramp. As we got closer to Bonanza city, DK was moving around with an obvious limp.

When we got there, it was indeed a mess, they forced us to clean up the bunkhouses, find a source of water and cook dinner all by ourselves. I was on constant lookout for people that I can meet and trying to build an alliance when it's time to go choose our rooms for the night.

Meanwhile, sunset came, and still no dinner is served. Then, Sophia and Kelsey told us that it should be done in 15 minutes. When it finally came time to eat our first meal, it was mushy but it was okay. Alex, Brett and I fell to sleep as soon as we were done eating, knowing that every minute of sleep is essential.

I guess that host was right it's going to seem like an eternity!


	2. Chapter 2

Day 2:

I got up at 7:30 in the morning and breakfast was cooked by that time. It was a whole lot better than dinner last night. I was talking to Alex about math and he was amazed that I'm already a freshman in high school, and he wants to grow older already. However, for Jared he didn't get a pancake. I felt so bad for him, and that promptly started a conflict over who didn't get enough food and who got too much food. Then Mike got everybody's attention by deciding to call a big meeting because we were not eating. But then again, I wasn't expecting it to work perfectly. Heck, at one time during the meeting, Greg was being a bitch, again, by pushing mike off the platform and promptly left the meeting with Blaine. I almost thought that it was going to fail on the second day, but thank goodness, Michael stepped up and saved our fate by keeping our egos in check with his motivational speech.

Meanwhile, after the meeting, I was talking to Brett about video games like Halo and world of Warcraft among other things. We then exchanged our usernames on World of Warcraft. I quickly figured that Alex is also into Biology and has a microbe collection back at his house. But as we were talking, the bell was rung on for 5 minutes. The council told us to meet in the center of town. Then, the council stated that they read the journal and the town failed. So it was up to us to make it better. Then Mike said that "in order to do so, we need to split you guys up into 5 districts, and we tried to keep friends together and enemies apart."

Kelsey went first. "I would like to welcome to the green team: Sophia, Divad, Eric, Sophie, Alex, Brett, and Jimmy."

Then, it was Guylan's turn: "I would like to welcome to the Yellow team: DK, Jared, Nathan, Taylor, Leila, Mallory and Olivia"

Third up, was Migle: "I would like to welcome to the Blue team: Greg, Blaine, Natasha, Zach, Colton, Kennedy, Savannah and Kyle"

I was kind of excited but skeptical about Greg and Blaine being on the same team as me, but hey I got Zach and Colton to communicate with. However, Alex and Brett are on a different team as me. Which sucks, but oh well, that's the breaks. I can always talk to them when we run into each other.

Fourth up was Markelle: "I would like to welcome to the red team: Gianna, Morgan, Pharaoh, Laurel, Anjay, Jasmine, and Cody"

And last up was Mike: I would like to welcome to the orange team: Madison, Maggie, Emilie, Michael, Randi, Campbell and Hunter."

Then, before we resume business as usual, Migle said "Bunkhouse 1 is for the guys and Bunkhouse 2 is for the girls."

When I met my new teammates for the first time, I learned some interesting things about them. Migle, our team leader, wasn't even born in America she was originally born in Lithuania. Colton wants to be a football player and Kennedy is a tennis player.

During dinner time, I decided to eat with Zach and Colton. I quickly learned that Colton is a cowboy and rides bulls. Meanwhile, Zach is very intelligent for his age, and he's very mature as well.

After eating dinner and sleeping at our normal times, which for me is 9 PM. I decided to sleep alongside Greg's sleeping bag. And yes, we have to sleep on the good old floor, which sucks balls! But oh well, what can we do?


	3. Chapter 3

Day 3:

As I got up, I saw graffiti everywhere saying "BIVE", which meant to appear as the blue team did it. I wondered, "Hmm, please don't tell me that Greg and Blaine did this?"

Meanwhile, I wasn't the first one to realize this, but why do we only have one outhouse for 41 kids? Heck, it started to worry me quite a bit! I then talked to Alex and Brett about their team. Alex said, "It's nice to have Sophia on my team but we could use some older people on this team." Brett said "it's too early to tell but we could use a trade sooner or later if we start to lose people too quick." But after lunch time, the host rung the bell and then I saw bags of clothes in front of a job board.

The host then explained that there are 5 jobs classes on this board: Laborers, who does the laundry, haul water and clean the outhouse for 10 cents. The cooks are supposed to cook all 3 meals, clean the dishes and take care of the kitchen for 25 cents. The Merchants run the dry goods, the saloon and the candy shop for 50 cents. Then, the bankers run the bank for 75 cents. And then there's the upper class, which they have no assigned jobs for 1 dollar.

Then the host babbles upon rules that the council can enforce at any time, the council can take away 5 cents for every day to anyone that doesn't do their assigned job. And then John told us about the bank, the bank is meant to encourage saving your hard earned money, and you can deposit/withdraw your money in the bank at any time. Then he warned us that the money that you earned will carry over throughout the show, so be smart with your money.

"Now you are wondering how to earn the money in the first place?" said John. Everybody was scratching their heads, and then he stated, "It is simple each of the five teams will compete in showdowns throughout the season for your jobs and paychecks." Finally he told us to get dressed up in these special uniforms and follow the cameraman to the showdown destination. When I got dressed for the showdown, we were discussing a plan if it was a race against the clock.

But as soon as Greg and Blaine got dressed, they started putting "BIVE" signs all over the town again. Wait a second we all cleaned up that chalk this morning, why would they do it again? I was wondering, "Are they really that insane?"

When we got to the location of the showdown, I saw five pumps, buckets, an open field of pipes sticking off the ground and 3 bottles.

Then, the host explained the objective of the challenge, "you have to carry the pumps to the hoses on the ground, and pump water from them, but you can only pump and fill the buckets with your team's color on it." In addition, you have one hour to finish the challenge, the team that finishes first gets upper class, second place will get the bankers, third place will be merchants, fourth will be the cooks and last place are the laborers. Finally, he concluded with "if all 5 teams finish this challenge within the time limit, you will earn a reward for the whole town, but if one team fails, there would be no reward given."

When the challenge started, Migle told us, we should split up into 3 separate groups, two people will pump water, four people will catch water and 2 people will fill the bottles! And then we adjust accordingly when we have to move to a different pump. This strategy worked perfect for us, I was filling the bottles up with Zach during the first stint. Then I helped pumped the water with Colton on the second stint, and then during the final stint, I catch the water as it moves from the pump to the ground. 30 minutes through the challenge, I noticed that we were in first place, and it looks like Red and Orange teams are racing for second place. With fifteen minutes left on the clock we finished as upper class by a 6 minute margin of victory over red team, who finished as bankers. One minute later, Orange team finished as merchants.

The host then said "you have five minutes left!"

Yellow team was about to finish the final bottle, but DK started cramping up yet again. And then he fell to the ground, obviously in some minor pain. But thank goodness, yellow team finished as cooks, as DK eventually got up off the ground and walked off under his own power. The yellow team got done with just a little over two minutes left.

But now the question is can the Green team and Kelsey finish within the time limit, with just 10% of the final bottle left unfilled? It was so close, but they barely missed out by 3 seconds. So, we didn't get the reward.

The host said, "Oh pioneers, you came so close to earning the reward, but green team didn't get the whole pump across the start/finish line in time, so you don't get the reward which was either the following two choices."

You didn't get 7 more outhouses, which would bring your total from 1 to 8. Everybody was so mad, especially the younger people like Cody and Campbell. And the town did not get this: A TV set, which you can watch at any time you want! Everybody then was booing at the green team, for failing to finish the challenge on time.

After dinner time, I managed to get Alex to explain what's going on with his team. "Yes, I am starting to get a gut feeling that we do need a trade if we can't finish the challenges within the time limit."

At bedtime I was thinking, "Crap, we only have one outhouse for the rest of the show. It's going to be horrible hopefully nobody leaves."


	4. Chapter 4

Day 4:

When we got up to start the day, the job board was created with all 41 kids on it assigned jobs by the town council.

Migle went first: "as you can see, the blue team is the upper class, yay for us!"

Then Markelle said: "yes, we are the bankers, so we going to be the first ones to see what it's inside before we open our doors for business."

Mike said: "orange team, you are the merchants, which is not bad but I imagine that you will love running the dry goods, candy shop and the saloon. And we got 50 cents, which is decent enough for the time being."

I tried to set your jobs as fair as possible with Madison and Maggie in the candy shop. Meanwhile, Campbell, Hunter and Michael you are assigned to be in the saloon. Finally, Randi and Emilie is in the dry goods shop.

Guylan then said "yellow team, you are the cooks. Hopefully all of you are ready to cook all of the meals and clean the dishes until the next challenge."

Finally it is Kelsey's turn: "green team, it sucks that we are laborers, and since we didn't get the reward, we still only have one outhouse for all of us." The whole town said in Unison: "Yuck!". She went on to state "I know but as you can see, Sophia is in charge of cleaning the only outhouse that we have. Meanwhile, Eric, Jimmy and Brett are in charge of hauling water. Finally, Alex, Divad and Sophie are in charge of the laundry."

When we were off to our jobs, I was waiting for the bank to open, because the red team had to check it out first. When the bank was finally opened, I already decided how much money to put in the bank. I ultimately decided to put 20 cents in the bank and spend 60 cents until the next challenge in 3 days. While keeping 20 cents saved with me at all times.

After I left the bank, I saw Migle walking towards me and said to me "wow you are a cheap person?" I responded, "yes, I am trying to prepare for the uncertain event that we end up finish as laborers at any point, so that's the reason why I stop here first thing before helping the town out!"

Then, I went to the dry goods store. After much debate, I bought the Julius Caesar book for 5 cents. Meanwhile right behind me, Jared bought the King Henry the 5th book for the same price. Then I stopped by the saloon, and bought a sprite for 5 cents from the saloon because I was thirsty after spending the last 3 days without any sugar in my system.

To wrap it up for the day, I decided to help with hauling water because the green team needed somebody to help them out to fill up that big tank. Yes, it was tiring at times, but it's needed to keep the town running. After the water pump was halfway full. I heard from Alex and Brett that they are afraid that someone from their team is considering leaving the show already. I asked who can it be, they said "well I can't tell you, but I give you a hint, the person is really young." Then before dinner time, the host rung the bell, this time is for a town hall meeting.

During the town hall meeting, Sophia was complaining that Taylor and Leila from the yellow team are not willing to do any work in the kitchen at all! And demanded Guylan to take away 5 cents for each day they don't do their assigned job! Guylan said, "Okay, I would do that in a heartbeat!"

The next complainant was towards the green team for not finishing the challenge within the time limit. Most of the town, including me warned that if they don't finish within the time limit for the next challenge, then they will start handing out punishments towards them. I stated, "I don't know what it could possibly be, but this team needs to step up your game rather quickly".

Then the host asked this question: "Does anybody want to go home? I will ask this question at every town hall meeting and the decision is irreversible, so be careful."

After some thought, Jimmy became the first one to raise their hand to leave the show. He stated that "he was too young to do this and he thinks that his team was not good enough for him."

After saying our final good-byes to Jimmy, which was the youngest person on this show, as he walks out to his bunkhouse to get ready to leave, the host then presented the gold star, worth $20,000 and the council will select one person to get it at every town hall meeting.

Mike, from the orange team then stood up and announced the council's decision: "This decision was tough, there were two good choices but we ultimately narrowed it down to just one person. This person is a determined worker and highly motivated, the gold star winner is . . . Michael!

Michael then said in front of everyone, "thank you council for selecting me and anyone of you can win it, if you just believe in yourself."

The host then announced that Michael can call his parents and gives him the key to the only working phone in bonanza city. Finally, the host said, "good luck the rest of the way, and keep building this town!"

The whole town celebrated with him in the saloon of course, and the town's morale skyrocketed way up after this meeting! I sneaked in a word with Alex and Brett regarding Jimmy's departure. Alex stated that "they are at a disadvantage already and it's highly doubtful that we can finish the next showdown on time." Meanwhile, Brett said "that if this next showdown is 1 hour long again, we are screwed and some changes will be needed." At bedtime, I was thinking about the gold star in my sleep and like everyone else they want one as well.


	5. Chapter 5

Day 5:

So, I got up at like 7:30 A.M. and finally realized that we were eating canned food all of this time! Sophia was among the many of them saying that "it's kind of nasty." Savannah also stated that "it's not very good" No wonder why everybody was so slow eating because the food is not that flavorful after a while. After breakfast, the council told us to stay in the mess hall for an announcement, and I am wondering what can it possibly be? Hopefully it's something good this time.

The council told us that they read the journal again this morninig, and stated that we were in need for fresh meat. All of the sudden, Mike said the unthinkable "we are considering killing some chickens!" Markelle said, "Are you serious?" and then DK said "we all need protein!"

Then Kelsey said, "We are not going to survive 40 days without protein in our systems." Ironically, Eric mentioned vegans in this discussion, but then again Mike said that they have Tofu and that contains protein. Then, in a slight surprise, Greg said that he knows how to do it and is willing to do it for the town, if the majority approves it. Then the council asked for a yes/no vote on killing 2 chickens for dinner. Only Emilie raised her hand for no, but the rest of us, including myself raised our hands for yes. Afterwards, I saw Emilie confront the council about the threat of her leaving the show if they indeed do it.

Meanwhile, I was waiting for the chickens to be killed, but wait a second Emilie is taking hostage of the chickens. Like, come on now, the town voted for it, so no matter what you will lose your argument. She ended up locking up herself up in the chicken coup. When the council came she refused to open the door, it took the council about 10 minutes to finally issue a punishment to Emilie, she can open the door to the chicken coop but she has to give up all of her remaining buffalo nickels to the council members themselves and then they will split the fine among themselves. Emilie responded, "okay I will open the door, but keep in mind that I will leave the show no matter what happens!"

After Greg and Blaine talked it over with Emilie and some of the other concerned people like Colton, Savannah, and Campbell, Emilie ultimately gave in and said "the town wants and needs meat, so I will accept it like everybody else, but I will still be committed to leave the show at the next town hall meeting regardless of your actions."

I decided to watch the two chickens being killed and I also helped plucking the feathers off. It was indeed easy but it did get somewhat messy! In the end, only a select few stayed to watch the whole thing. They were Guylan, Jared, Greg, Blaine, Anjay and me.

Meanwhile, I was reading my Julius Caesar book that I bought yesterday while I was waiting for dinner to be cooked. When the Chicken soup was finally served, and yes, it was indeed cold outside during that time let's say around 40 degrees F. I was finally relieved that I finally got a healthy meal for once!

After the chicken dinner, Alex and Brett came to me and both said that "we are indeed getting concerned about the showdown tomorrow, how can this team do better?" I said to both of them, "Try to know you teammates better and use their strengths."

Before bedtime, I was in my bunkhouse, and I said a thank you to Greg for his efforts. Then he told me that he needs the gold star for his future so that he can go to college, because he is homeschooled and has no money saved up for it. Shortly thereafter I said good night to Zach and Colton as well and we slept obviously preparing for the next challenge the following day. Hopefully we can defend our upper class win and finally get a much needed reward for the town to enjoy!


	6. Chapter 6

Day 6:

Greg happened to get up earlier than me, for some reason. But then again, I was cold and stayed in my sleeping bag until I was hungry for breakfast. When I got outside, I noticed that the council hugging each other due to the high winds and they are concerned about something. So I decided to ask Migle, "What's the problem?" She then said "our lone water pump is frozen in, the laundry is closed and our breakfast has to be delayed due to this issue." I was like, "Oh crap, that's no good and we can't start breakfast until we get our water supply back somehow!" So, we waited for 30 minutes, for Eric to unfreeze the water pump. And then we eat breakfast afterwards.

The host then rang the bell again and this time he told us "that its showdown time, and we need to get dressed up and meet him by the old windmill."

After we are dressed up for the challenge, the team that is the upper class always leads the rest of the town to the challenge location. This time around it was Greg led the team out of the bunkhouses and we were running full blast to the showdown site. The first thing I noticed was a huge blue slide like structure out in the distance. The host then told us that the water slide is one of the reward choices and its heated. However, all 5 teams have to finish the challenge in 1 hour to earn it.

The host then describes the challenge. We have to build pipes from the start line, to the outhouse, then through a barrel, and then through a wall of pipes, when only one of them goes through and then to the water wheel to complete the challenge. But here's the twist, the water will be on throughout the whole challenge and it will remain on until the end. I was like, "oh crap, we have to build pipe without gloves while the cold water is on! That's just great!"

When the challenge started, Greg and Blaine assembled the pipes, while I was getting the pieces needed for them to build. By the time we were past the outhouse we were in the lead, again followed by Yellow and orange teams racing for second place. It was clear that when we got through the barrel, that we have a big enough lead but we still have to get through the wall of pipes. When we did get to the wall of pipes, Greg spoke through the pipe and Blaine was on the other side trying to signal to him if he can hear his voice. It happens to us that our first guess was indeed the correct one, so we saved a whole boatload of time there! We finished as upper class, again, after 35 minutes through the challenge, and we finished with a 17 minute margin of victory over second place yellow team. Orange finished as merchants again, but with four and a half minutes left on the timer. But in the closing 20 seconds in this challenge, red team barely finished as cooks. But once again, Kelsey and the green team fell short and this time they will not even close. The green team didn't even get close to the wall of pipes!

The host said, "That's twice in a row, that green team failed to finish, so for the second time, you don't get the reward which was a choice between the water Slide or more water pipes, but these pipes are designed not to freeze at any time!"

Then Kelsey said a statement to everyone that shocked everyone

"I understand that we are one person short, so what I ask for is anyone willing to leave their current team and join us, so that we can win a reward the next time? I will give you people until the next town hall meeting to debate about it."

Meanwhile, after the challenge, I managed to speak with Brett about his team's struggles. He said "that the team needs to do something rather fast about this growing problem or else it will be too late to recover from such a bad start to the season."


	7. Chapter 7

Day 7:

This whole day was spent mostly trying to speculate about who would go to green team. After breakfast, Kelsey, the green team's council leader approached me, and tried to offer me a contract to be traded to green team. I was like, "if I go with your team, there has to be an opt-out clause in it, or else I will not consider your offer." Kelsey was like, "okay, what are your terms then?" I responded with "It's simple, if I do sign and the team doesn't finish the next showdown on time, then I have to be traded back to my original team, sounds fair?" Kelsey was like, "No, we need someone for the rest of the season and I'm guessing you are not interested. Well, I will try someone else to join my team then" I shouted out to her "good luck trying to find someone, you desperate jerk!"

Meanwhile, I stopped by the bank again, and put away another 20 cents into the bank account. This time, Jared stopped me from leaving the bank and asked me to do a favor, "I am noticing that there has been a total lack of people saving money and instead spending it all before the next challenge. Can you try to convince more people to at least consider saving one buffalo nickel each time they earn their paycheck in the showdowns? I responded "Okay, I will start making posters around the town advertising the bank." A few hours later, there were a few more people from my own team and the orange team decided to at least store one buffalo nickel in that bank. But, the host rang the bell once again it's time for the town hall meeting. During this town hall meeting, there were some demands from some of the town for Kelsey to step down as a council member. The host then asked Kelsey, about the rumors flying around.

Kelsey then said, "After much debating, I will step down as a council member but I will not leave the show for now" The host responded with "OK, but who's going to be your replacement on Council?" Kelsey then responded "I will decide that an election between Sophia and Alex will take place, among all five of the teams"

But then before the election can take place, we have to determine if anybody is willing to leave the show and decide who's the gold star winner is. As expected, Emilie fulfilled her promise to leave the show, if they killed any chickens, which they did. Then the gold star winner was announced by Kelsey as she made her statement: "This person has worked so hard to fulfill the needs and wants of us, and he's pretty excellent in the challenges. The gold star winner goes to . . . Greg!"

Greg was relieved and overjoyed. He said a thank you to the council, and then he stated that this gold star will help him finally realize his dream to go to college and be an engineer.

He was given the key but the host asked him not to go yet, because we have an open election between Sophia and Alex for the vacant green team council seat. In a landslide 33-6 and yes the whole town voted in this election Sophia won. I wanted Alex to win, but the vast majority of the town wanted the older person to win.

Afterwards, the gold star winner, Greg decided to have a big party in the saloon and each of us has to buy at least one soda for 5 cents. However, I didn't want to stay up for all of it, so I paid 5 cents for a sprite and left halfway through and sleep through the rest of the night. But I was shocked that the only other two people that left during the party and slept in were the sisters Mallory and Olivia. So, I was sincerely hoping that everybody is not too bitchy the next day!


	8. Chapter 8

Day 8:

I was awake by 8 in the morning, but almost everybody from my team was still sleeping, it's pretty obvious they are kind of exhausted and kind of crashed from that big party last night with a massive diet of soda and root beer.

By noon, almost everybody was up from the big party and eating a brunch. At 2 PM the council has announced that the curfew time is set at 9:30 P.M. every night from here till the end of the season. Shortly thereafter, the bell rang and we got ready for another showdown. After we got dressed up, once again the blue team has to lead the rest of the town to the challenge location, but it was Blaine leading the pack this time around. However, when we got to the showdown, a rain cloud was approaching us rather quickly. I was like "oh snap, that's rain coming our way, be prepared for the sweaters"

The host then explained that we have to look for 3 wanted sheep with our team colored ace cards on the front of their necks. The town council members will try to shout out the names of the wanted sheep and point to them. The time limit is 5 minutes for all 5 teams to finish the challenge.

I was on the sidelines, throughout the challenge pointing out the location of the sheep as Migle shouted the names of our wanted sheep. It was noisy as a rock concert, so we decided to have Migle on the platform calling out the names and I was the scouter trying to find the sheep from the sidelines. Yet again, our strategy worked to perfection, we were upper class for the third straight time thanks mostly to our four big boys: Greg, Blaine, Zach and Colton finding the aces and the rest of them acting as decoys to distract the other teams! But thank goodness Blue team got finished just as the rain arrived!

Orange team finished 2nd with 1:18 left on the clock. Red team barely completed the challenge as merchants with 13 seconds left. But too bad, the yellow and green teams failed to find all 3 aces. DK was trying to fight with a sheep to get the final ace for Yellow team but fell short. Finally, green team only got one ace to their name. So, once again, we failed to get a reward for the third straight time and the green team finished last yet again! This time, the reward choices that we missed out on were a microwave or a pizza party.

Afterwards the town was already mad after the 2nd showdown about the inability to get a reward, and likewise the whole town was having a beef with the green team, but this time it got even worse. Sophia, like Kelsey before her announced her intent to try acquiring someone from a different team to help them to finish a challenge for once! But then again, will anyone actually leave to join this messed up team, or will this effort to get a trade done fall through the cracks again?

After the challenge was over, I managed to interview some of the other people like DK, from the yellow team. He was still having a beef about the green team's incompetence to finish a challenge on time. "I am so pissed off at Sophia and Kelsey, they didn't do a great job choosing their team, it's almost seems to me that they are a freaking joke! Look, at least the yellow team did finish two out of the three challenges on time, but you guys can't even get close to finish the last two challenges after failing the first one by 3 seconds? I feel that this team is already slowly but surely falling apart and something has to be done now to fix this sinking ship."

Furthermore, I managed to get a word with Madison from the Orange team about this same topic, she responded with "Quite honestly, I don't know when and if we ever going to get a reward in the challenges. Unless a successful trade happens right away and they can get the right leader on council in charge, until then, this team can't recover."

After dinner, I was talking to Taylor, also from the yellow team, she said the following regarding the Green team, "I am starting to get so sad around this place, that's three times in a row we failed to get a reward for the town and all of it thanks to the green team. I won't be shocked that Sophia will be also out of the council as quick as Kelsey got kicked out of council. This situation is so bad that it will literally take a miracle to pull off a trade with another team and if they do, it will probably take the rest of the season for them to catch up to the rest of the teams."


	9. Chapter 9

Day 9:

The first day of the curfew enforcement, worked well for almost everyone including me. We all got at least 10 hours of sleep the night before. When the new job board was announced, the yellow team's Guylan said "I finally decided to move Taylor and Leila as the chefs for all three meals, because they were complaining about having to do the dishes last time we were the cooks, hopefully, they are happy to finally get work done." Then, the blue's team Migle said, "we are the upper class for the third straight time, just keep this hard work up and you may be winning gold stars sooner rather than later." Next up, was Mike and he said "yay we are in the bank because we finished second. Hopefully you guys can convince even more people to visit the bank and save money." Then it was Markelle's turn, red team, we are the merchants, and I tried to assign you to stores that I find that can maximize your effort." Finally, Sophia spoke, "Green team, as you can see, we are still stuck in the laborer class, hopefully I can pull of a trade by the next town hall meeting, until then, don't get too discouraged."

When we start work for the day, the first thing I did was check in to the bank and deposit 15 more cents. And guess what, the line is getting longer by the day. Guess some people are realizing that they have to save money just in case the lack of rewards for the town forces them to not spend as much.

By lunch time, I noticed that Taylor and Leila were finally working for once! After the lunch break, I was working filling up the water tank to maximum capacity, and I noticed that even more people were going to the bank and saving up money. But in the late afternoon, a dust storm hit Bonanza and damaged the town somewhat. Zach from the blue team told us to stay inside the saloon until the storm ended and told all of the teenagers to check the town for any possible damage. It took us 90 minutes to repair the damage made by that storm. Then the council told us to meet at the chapel, where the journal was at.

We were asked to make some comments about who should be the next gold star winner. I said to the council "Zach because he helped calm down the town during the dust storm."

Then during dinner time, the green team's Sophia approached me and tried to talk to me about a trade. And once again I said, "Nope, not even close the first time around, so why bother again?"

As I walked around town, I heard rumors flying around that Kelsey will probably either leave or try to demand a trade from green team in an effort for the team to help rebuild their roster, but the question is will anybody else leave come tomorrow?" I also heard rumors by Divad from the Green Team that Mallory will probably leave eventually if she doesn't get some compensation for her 9th birthday tomorrow at the town hall meeting. But the million dollar question is "Are either of them true or not?"


	10. Chapter 10

Day 10:

As I got up at my typical 8 A.M. wake up time, I noticed that some of the people are starting to get sick and tired of the lack of fun in the town. That's what not getting any town rewards would do to anyone including me, decrease morale to the point that people might start leaving at a greater rate than usual.

However, Colton and Zach came up to me with an idea this morning after breakfast that was indeed fun but risky, try to hike up the mountain outside of the town limits. When we were hiking up that mountain, there was a huge group of bulls just loafing around. Thank god, Colton is a cowboy and knows how to scare them off before there was any harm done to us. We eventually got to the top of the mountain and then walked back for time for lunch time.

During Lunch time, the talk was about the rumor mill and the possibility of a trade by green team, Will it actually happen or not? I tried talking to Alex and Brett just one hour before the town hall meeting they both don't know what the possible trade is. Furthermore, Sophia has forced all of us to wait until town hall for an announcement regarding this issue. The other problem was pretty obvious, its Mallory's 9th birthday today and what should the town do to celebrate?

The host at 4:00 PM ordered us to the town hall finally. The first order of business at town hall was an announcement from Sophia regarding the current state of green team. In the announcement she stated that "Right now, we did manage to get a deal done to get Randi from Orange team. In return, Kelsey will be traded to Orange team. Now, you are wondering why Kelsey changed her mind about leaving the show. I talked to her about the possibility of a trade, to orange team, and after some talks she arrived that it works not only for her but the town as a whole. And hopefully, if nobody leaves the show during this town hall meeting, we all can hopefully enjoy a brief sign of relief. Thank you for your time and understanding."

Then yellow team's leader Guylan spoke about what to do regarding Mallory's birthday: "As you may know Mallory's birthday is today. The council has decided that we all are going to have a chicken dinner feast compete with desert from the candy store in celebration of this event for dinner!'

Then the host asked if anyone wants to leave and go home. Thankfully no one wanted to leave as of now, so we are still 39 people strong. Then the host asked the council who would get the gold star this time around:

Migle stood up and announced the council's decision: "this person has helped us not only in the challenges but also to the well-being of the town so far. The gold star winner is . . . Zach!"

Zach was pleasantly shocked to win a gold star. He was literally speechless on what to say to the council, he then received the key to the phone and called his parents.

After the meeting, I can't believe it's already 25% done and as we enjoyed that big chicken feast with desert and sung happy birthday to Mallory before nightfall. I was more optimistic about our chances to get a reward the next challenge because of the successful trade. But then again, I am not entirely sure if it's possible.


	11. Chapter 11

Day 11:

I got up at the same time as Greg, which was the first time that has happened. He asked me "what's my religion?" I responded "Catholic". Obviously, the camera crew was curious to ask among ourselves about religion today. After breakfast, we were told by the council if we wanted to the town can start a common religious service. However, things didn't go that smoothly, Divad said that "it's impossible to put all religions in the same room together, because I tried it back home and it didn't work!" Alex countered with "instead of focusing on the differences about focuses on the similarities" Despite this back and forth among the cast members, most everybody was ultimately opposed to it, including myself the council decided to dismiss us without any further action.

However, after lunch time, the council didn't keep their promise and decided to try doing it anyway by ringing a bell telling us that a religious service will start soon, but nobody showed up for it. Instead, we kept doing our assigned jobs and ignored them. At one time when the council rang the bell, Colton, trying to be a bad ass cowboy, flipped the finger at the council as he walked past them. After the bell stopped, Alex then came to everyone and asked about their religion in a rather nice way. I responded to his survey with catholic. Maybe there's a reason why everybody refused to do a service all together? There are quite a diverse variety of religions represented according to the survey including one Hindu, a few Jews, and some undecided people. Before dinner, Greg presented his points to the council, stating that "if everybody wants a separate service, let them do it, but I think it's impossible for the council to force us to do a set service."

During dinner time, most of the teams were planning separate services after they were finished eating, but all in the sudden Morgan showed up and decided to do something about this issue. She said "only if you want to, you can come to our bonfire outside of the kitchen." It happened that all 39 of us, including all 5 council leaders showed up and we prayed together. I spoke at the bonfire and said the following "I know it's a hard journey so far, with tons of issues thrown at us. But no matter what happens from this point forward, we have to believe in not only ourselves, but each other in able to make this a successful experience. Just be thankful that we have memories that we can tell to our friends back home. God bless Bonanza and thank you for everything." Afterwards, I feel touched by doing this speech, then Zach said his Jewish prayer everyone was quiet and emotional, including me. Finally, at bedtime, Blaine happened to say something to me, "nice speech at the bonfire". I responded with a thank you and a good night to him.


	12. Chapter 12

Day 12:

When I got up, I noticed that the majority of the people are getting annoyed by two things: The town's failure to get a reward so far, thanks in large part by the green team. The other thing is that we still have one outhouse for 39 kids.

When the bell rung for the showdown, pretty much everyone on the blue team said the same thing, "we must get the reward together, or else this town will fall apart sooner than later!" And not to mention, we are going for 4 straight upper class wins in the challenges! When were all ready to go, I decided to lead the rest of the town to the showdown site. Man, I was so exhausted by the end of that run, because it was kind of far away.

When we got to the showdown, I saw a box of puzzle pieces and a crank. The host then explained to us that we need to solve the puzzle first and then spin the wheel to ring the bell. The time limit is 30 minutes, if every team finishes the challenge within that time limit, you will earn a huge reward for the whole town! Then, the host asked the green team, "Can you finally finish a challenge on time?" Alex responded, "I think so, I do puzzles all the time in my spare time, so it's readily possible"

At the start of the challenge, we decided to split into two groups, Zach does the bottom part of the puzzle, and I do the top part of the puzzle. A couple minutes past the halfway point, Migle notices that Green team's Eric was just started to spin the wheel, and 30 seconds later, red team's Pharaoh was starting to spin the wheel. We were the third team finished with the puzzle but I had that gut feeling that Greg can possibly pull off a comeback with his amazing strength and endurance.

By the time Greg was halfway done spinning the wheel, we were so close to even with Green team for upper class. Meanwhile, DK from the Yellow team has overtaken red team for 3rd place, but Orange team's Michael is closing the gap from red team to hopefully avoid finishing in last place.

When Greg finally got the bell to ring, I heard the green team bell ring at almost the same time. Both teams ran to the finish line at the same time as well. The host was amazed and speechless, "how can we decide a winner for this challenge because as far as I can tell, both bells rung at the same time according to me. Camera crew, determine which bell rang first by official review."

Meanwhile while this was happening, Yellow team finished as merchants, red team barely finished as cooks, and Orange team settled for laborers. But the good news is that every team did indeed finish the challenge with 8 minutes left to spare. But first, before we show you the reward choices, "camera crew, is there any decision on which bell rung first?" One of the cameraman spoke into the host's Bluetooth earpiece, John then said, "after further review, it is determined that blue team's bell was rung first by 1 second! So therefore, blue team is still the upper class, and green team is the bankers."

Wow, with that out of the way, let's finally get to the reward choices which happen to be a choice between a . . . Collection of holy books or you can choose an 18 holed mini golf course. Council, you are the ones that run this town, so talk it out and come to your conclusion.

When the council was talking it over, the host asked various people about what would they choose as the reward. Sophie said "mini golf, because we need some fun for once!" However, Zach countered with "holy books, because it will help you grow as a person." A few minutes later, the council came back and the host said "So, what's it going to be Council, the holy books or a hole in one?"

Mike then made the decision, "after a massive debate, we decided to go for the . . . Holy books!"

At least 70% of the people, and yes I was one of them, were pissed off afterwards, because this is our first successful reward, and we didn't get the want item?


	13. Chapter 13

Day 13:

When we got up this morning, it was snowing hard. "Wait a second it's the desert and it snows in the spring? Does it make any sense?" said Blaine. I said, "It does make sense but you have to figure it out yourself!"

As typical of the day after a showdown, the council assigned everyone their jobs and then each council member spoke. First up was Migle, "as you can see, no changes were made because we were still the upper class." Then, Sophia said, "Green team, we are something other than laborers for once. We are running the bank, so that's a huge relief and joy for us." After Sophia was finished, Guylan then said, "yellow team we are merchants, so enjoy your time running the stores and the saloon."

That leaves the final two members of the council, Markelle for red team who stated that "We finished 4th but at least we finally got a reward, right?" and Mike for Orange team said that "it sucks being the laborers but it's necessary for this town to keep running"

Eventually the snow stopped by 10:30 in the morning. And we were preparing for a town hall meeting in the afternoon.

When Town hall started, the town was still kind of upset at Mike at his decision after the showdown to not get the mini golf course. I decided to question Mike "why we need the bibles in the first place, this town is indeed boring as is, and we want at least one fun item somehow, explain your thought process." Then mike said, "The council decided by a 3-2 vote that the bibles were going to be the reward choice, so that's the story there." Afterwards, some people were still booing at Mike about that reasoning.

Anyways, the host asked if anyone wants to go home. I was shocked that nobody decided to leave the show. Then the gold star winner was announced, and Markelle made the announcement:

"This person bought all of us together during a tough time. The gold star winner is . . . Morgan!"

Morgan said "Thank you council, for selecting me, and I am excited because I can finally talk to my parents over the phone and tell them the news!"

After the meeting, I was quite relieved that our streak of upper class wins is still going. I said to the whole team "wow, it's already almost two weeks here, and we haven't lost one person or a first place in the showdowns yet. Keep it up, blue team and sooner or later, we will build our dynasty!" Then the whole blue team was then clapping and motivated to keep that streak alive!

Of course, after dinner, I managed to run into Alex inside the bank and I asked him "how does it feel to not be a laborer?" He responded "it's awesome, I finally can spend some money on dry goods that I couldn't get when I was a laborer, but I have to keep in mind to save money in the bank." A few minutes later, I was talking to Brett about being a banker, and he said "at least I got more money to spend and maybe I will start saving money as well, because anything can and will happen."


	14. Chapter 14

Day 14:

"Wow, its day 14 already, time flew by so fast!" said Colton as I got up from my sleeping bag. And yes, before you ask, we are still sleeping on the cold ass floor and it took some time for us to get used to it especially Natasha, who is obviously spoiled as hell. As we eat breakfast, which by the way is starting to taste worse by the day. The council made an announcement after breakfast. Making that announcement was Mike "We read the journal again today, and it stated that we should hold city wide elections for council!"

Eveyrbody was like "Hell yeah, it's about time that we can challenge them!"

Before lunchtime, the council told us to meet outside of the chapel, listen to their speeches and ask if anyone wants to oppose them.

Sophia went first, for green team "I wanted to say that it's a tough task trying to rebuild this district after such a horrible start to the season, but I feel that we as a team are going in the right direction. Does anybody want to oppose me?"

Alex raised his hand to oppose her. And then Alex said "I feel that we as a team need a change for the better. Think about it, I helped this team finished something other than laborers last challenge and finished it on time. I can bring some good ideas to the table and change our horrible luck in the challenges. Thank you and may the best person win."

Guylan was next, and he didn't make a speech at all, saying that he wants to resign as a council member. DK raised his hand and essentially succeeded him on council.

Then Migle was next "I essentially want to tell you that I should still be the leader of the blue team, because in every single challenge, we finished as upper class and I'm proud of it. If anyone wants to challenge me go ahead."

However, I thought of running for council, but I decided not to run against Migle because of that winning streak! So, I allowed Migle to keep her seat on council for the time being.

Then Markelle made his speech for Red team: "I think I am doing decent enough to keep my seat, but if you think otherwise, go ahead and challenge me"

Then two people raised their hands, and yes that's fine according to the rules of the show. Laurel and Anjay. Laurel made her speech stating that "she has more experience back in her home town in a leadership role than both Anjay and Markelle combined." Afterwards, Anjay made his speech stated that "he has a better overall vision for the team and the town itself."

Finally, Mike made his speech for orange team stating that "he has made a couple mistakes but was generally truthful and honest." Michael challenged him by saying that "he will make this team better by focusing on a common set of core values."

The rest of the day was spent on the rumor mill trying to predict who's going to win the elections. I personally have a gut feeling that at best Mike and Markelle will be out of council. However, Sophia could have a chance to be kicked out as well by Alex. But then again, who can ever predict an election?


	15. Chapter 15

Day 15:

Migle held a meeting after breakfast with our team thanking the whole team for resisting change and not challenging her. But in other news, why over the last 14 days, we were not allowed to have toothpaste and toothbrushes. I then recalled that the producers said that your dental health kits have to be removed before leaving that hotel room on the morning of day 1 for some unknown reason. Then, the showdown bell rung and we got dressed up and hopefully extend our streak of Upper Class wins to 5. This time, it was Zach leading the pack to the showdown site.

When we got to the showdown the host told us that we need to open piñatas and find 7 cards containing U.S. presidents, and then order these 7 presidents in historical order. The time limit is 30 minutes and if all teams are successful we will win a reward.

But here's a catch, only one person can go open 1 piñata at a time. So essentially, each team has to determine a cycle before the start of the challenge itself.

When the showdown started, Greg was the first one in the cycle for our team. Sometimes, we did fail to find a card. By the time, we were done finding the 7 president cards we got 2 full cycles and in the process of a 3rd cycle. But now, the thinking game comes in play with ten minutes left to go.

But thankfully, we have Zach trying to figure out the order as we getting cards. So by the time we did get 7 cards we were hopefully the first ones to ring the bell.

But guess what, we were not the first ones to ring the bell, and red team got there first. But let's hope they are wrong. "Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, William Taft, Theo Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, 1st bush and 2nd bush. You are wrong!

Now it's our turn, but hope that the order is correct. "Thomas Jefferson, William Harrison, Andrew Johnson, Theo Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush" You are correct and blue team is still the upper class! We were relieved and just dodged a huge bullet to the face!

Then right after that moment, Red team rang the bell again, and got the order correct, so they are the bankers.

A few minutes later, the orange team and mike rang the bell. "James Madison, Andrew Jackson, John Tyler, Abe Lincoln, U. Grant, John F. Kennedy , and Nixon". Correct! And you are the merchants

But now the question is which team will finish as the cooks with 4 minutes left to go. Green team and Sophia rang the bell. "Taylor, Arthur, Taft, Roosevelt, Kennedy, 1st bush and the 2nd bush" Correct answer and you are the cooks!

So, it's up to the Yellow team to get the order right as the clock expires. "George Washington, John Tyler, William Harrison, U. Grant, FDR, JFK, and the 1st bush" Sorry, you are wrong and you don't get the reward!

Since, all 5 teams didn't order the presidents successfully in historical order you don't get the choice of either . . . Dental health kits for everyone or . . . a BBQ party.

Everybody was pissed off that they didn't get any toothbrushes and toothpaste especially the younger people like Cody and Randi!

"So back to your bunks and get ready for elections tomorrow!" said the host.

Meanwhile, during dinner time, everybody was still trying to predict who's winning the elections for the Green, Red and Orange teams.


	16. Chapter 16

Day 16:

Before town hall started, there were posters all over the town trying to sway any of the undecided people for Green, Red and Oranges to vote from them.

But there was an event going on near the mess hall after lunch time. Pharaoh happened to ripped up a couple of Alex's Posters up and smashed them up with the pogo sticks from the dry goods store. I knew I had to do something about it, so I went to the green team's bunkhouses, and I saw Alex crying by himself.

Then Alex told me the reason why people were questioning him even since he decided to run for council. "they think I'm too young to be a council member" I responded, "I know you have potential to possibly pull off an upset over Sophia, just let it out and forget about it." he responded back, "I feel that you are right, I have to be tough and not to back down from what's right for this town." But what is amazing about this moment was the cameraman was so close to me as I was speaking to him. The rest of the time was spent trying to get a last-minute plan to sway enough people from his team to vote for Alex.

As soon as the town hall started, the host warned us that it's going to be a longer than usual meeting. First order of business is anybody willing to go home? All in a sudden two hands go up, Randi from the green team and Cody from the red team.

Randi wants to go home, because the town failed to get the dental health kits and she feels homesick. But Cody has a different reason why he wants to go home, he is afraid of his handicapped brother's health all of this time.

With Randi leaving, green team is down to 6 people, which means that if the green team elections end up in a 3-3 tie then the whole town has to vote for either Alex or Sophia.

Meanwhile, with Randi leaving, the red team has only 7 people, but in their election, they have 3 choices for council. So, if the election ended up as 3-3-1, then the whole town has to vote for just the two people that got three votes each.

So with both of them leaving, we are down to 37 people. Then the gold star was announced. Making the announcement was Migle:

This person has been so honest and nice towards the younger people, he's willing to do anything to improve fairness for these people. The gold star winner is . . . Kyle!

I was shocked, me winning a gold star this early on! I was completely overjoyed with excitement. I said to the council, "thank you for giving me this, it will help me finally realize my dream of going to college and be a math teacher!" The host then gave me the key to the phone, but told me to hold on to it, because we are doing elections!

After the green, orange and red team members casted their votes, Yellow didn't have an election because Guylan resigned and as a result DK took over without a contest. Blue team didn't have anyone opposing Migle, so she kept her council seat.

The host then announced the results one vote at a time. First, the green team

Alex

Sophia

Alex

Sophia

Alex

I was thinking, maybe my plan did work out and guess what the final vote was for?

Alex

Alex was overjoyed to be on council and of course thanked me to keep trying.

Next up red team,

Anjay

Markelle

Laurel

I was thinking someone has to pull ahead in this 3 way tie

Laurel

Laurel

Laurel

Laurel

Laurel came up and said, "Markelle did an OK job as a leader, but now I'm in charge, let's make this team and this town better than what it already is."

Finally, orange team

Mike

Michael

Michael

Michael

Michael

Michael

Michael

Mike said: "this sucks, but go ahead Michael, take the seat on council anyway."

After an eternity of a town hall meeting, I finally got to talk to my parents at 8 PM. They were so shocked but happy that I won the $20,000 gold star. They are indeed proud of me to win it and they missed me so much that they will plan something when I get back home. I talked to my parents for at least 20 minutes or so about this whole situation and I was enjoying every minute of it.

After that long-ass phone call, the town was swarming to me like some bees and asked me questions left and right. Yes, now I have my $20,000 gold star, hopefully the blue team can get a 6th straight upper class win next challenge. But, 30 Minutes before bedtime, Alex came to me and asked me to give him advice for the first day as a council member, I said to him, "get plenty of sleep tonight, you will need it!"


	17. Chapter 17

Day 17

As I got up, for the second-third of the season, I noticed that the trash pile is getting way out of hand as I pass by the mess hall. I was kind of shocked that four out of the five teams have new leaders. The Blue team is the only team that hasn't made any change in the council yet. Heck, I starting to feel worried about Alex and Brett's situation in the green team. Alex is the third different leader to try to lead the green team after Kelsey failed big time as a council leader, and got traded to orange team after Sophia took over the council seat for her. I managed to get a word with Brett regarding the constant struggles before the town council made the next journal announcement. Brett said the following "the third time is the charm, right?" I responded, "Let's hope that's the case for your team."

Speaking of the council, the announcement is that they will clean out the garbage bin, and bury it far away. The council selected 15 people to help out. But I didn't get selected instead they selected the people that are either disappointing so far or the people that are on the borderline between good and bad. In the end, it took them 3 hours to finish the task. But right after lunch time, the host rang the bell for the showdown. So, the people that worked to clean out the garbage are going to be screwed! After we got dressed, Colton decided to lead the town to the challenge site

The host then warned us that this showdown will smell so nasty and you might need to go throw up after it's done. The reason, the container is filled with baked beans and real live pigs eating it overnight. Then John told us that we have to dig through that mess and find tin cans with your teams color on it and only one person from each team can dig through the mess at any time. So time is of the essence. And what's worse, its 15 minutes long and the whole town needs 100 cans to get the reward. I said to the host: "that's 20 cans per team to get the prize."

When the showdown started, it was Greg, Guylan, Divad, Pharaoh and Mike that got into the mess first. Greg was the first one among the five to find a can. Then it was my turn to go into that damn mess. It was tough to focus but I found one after 25 seconds of digging through. But as I quickly realized, this showdown will test your nausea tolerance big time and it's important that you try to get out of that mess as quick as possible to have a shot at winning the upper class and help the town get the reward.

I eventually did find a can two more times before time expired. After time was up, some people including myself did indeed had to puke off camera before we counted the cans for each team.

First, the green team, as the host counted the cans 1, 2, 3 . . . 14, 15, 16 cans.

Then the yellow team, as the host counts it out 1, 2, 3 . . . 18, 19, and 20 cans

Then it's our blue team, as the host counted 1, 2, 3 . . . 20, 21, 22 cans

The host then reminded us that we have 58 cans right now and we need 42 more for the reward.

Next up, the red team, as the host resumes counting 1, 2, 3 . . . 17, 18, 19 cans

So far, so good for the blue team earning the 6th straight upper class win. But we have one team left to go, which is the Orange team. The magic number is 23 cans for both the reward and the upper class win for the orange team. Here we go!

The host counts out the orange team cans 1,2,3,4 . . . as he got to 15 cans, he then paused for dramatic effect and said "oh snap it's going to be close!" then he resumed 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 and then he paused yet again, this time for a longer time. John then said, "orange team . . . does have the 23rd can and you not only win the reward but in addition you are the new upper class after the blue team dominated the first 5 challenges. I thought that it wasn't going to happen, but you did it!"

Now, the reward is a choice between . . . fruits and vegetables or 2 dune buggies with unlimited gasoline. Of course, council, the decision is up to you, so talk it out for a few minutes.

As the council was talking it over and debating, the host once again asked some random people about what would they choose as the reward; Mike said "buggies, because you can use one of them for hauling water and the other one for fun!" But Guylan countered with "fruits and veggies because if I eat one more biscuit I will get sick!"

So, what's it going to be: "the fruits or the buggies?"

Alex made the announcement, I understand that you want the buggies because it's fun but in the end, we decided to choose the . . . fruits and vegetables because you guys need the healthy food! Unlike the last reward choice, everybody was happy and relieved that they got fresh food for the rest of the season!


	18. Chapter 18

Day 18

When I got up, the job board was modified by the new town council. But for the first time ever, the blue team is not the upper class. First up was Michael for the orange team: "After 17 long days of blue team domination, there is a new team in the upper class and it's us. Enjoy it while you can!" then, it was Migle for the Blue Team, who was the only holdover from the first council, "Guys, it sucks that we missed out on a 6th straight upper class by one can yesterday, but we still got bankers and that's great!" DK then spoke for the Yellow team "well, we are right in the middle of the pecking order, the merchants, at least that's okay right?" Fourth up was Laurel, the new leader for the red team, "sucks that we have to cook the meals until the next showdown, but at least we can use the fruits for anything right?" Finally, Alex for the green team, "I was wishing that I will not finish last in my first showdown as council leader but someone has to especially when the five teams are separated only by a mere 7 cans."

Meanwhile, while everybody was working, the red team decided to serve up a fancy fruit salad on the side for lunch. When it was served, everybody was so relieved because they had something different for once! I was actually impressed by them actually coming up with that idea in the first place, and that's coming from a normally picky eater. But shortly afterwards, Brett and Eric got fed up with the new leadership for the green team and decided to hold a big soda fight outside of the saloon to get everything off their chest. I decided not to participate in it, because 5 minutes into it Brett got hurt while running into a stray barrel chasing Eric and Jasmine at full speed. Thankfully, he wasn't that badly hurt, but he needed to sit out the rest of the day to recover. After that annoying soda fight ended, we went back to work, but as I passed by, Taylor is looking pretty upset and Leila is indeed trying her best to comfort her. As I listened while I was passing by them, I can barely hear Taylor's Voice "I want to go home, the town is simply not fun anymore."

Later on, after dinner time, I noticed that Pharaoh is trying so hard to get the gold star for some reason. So I decided to ask him, "Why do you need it?" He responded, "I only have a single parent in my family and we are in the process of a lawsuit with someone back home, and the bills are increasing so quickly on my mom." I responded "Okay, so it's not really for you then, it's for the whole family to hopefully survive this mess before it's too late."


	19. Chapter 19

Day 19

"Wow, I can't believe that we are almost half way through this experiment already" said Migle as I got up from my sleeping bag. The first stop is to the bank, which I decided to only deposit 15 cents from this paycheck. I now have $1.15 saved up in the bank, just trying to prepare for a possible worst case scenario later on. Migle was shocked about how much I saved up at this point, because most of us are not even close to the amount that I saved, the next closest person was Olivia and she only saved up 25 cents.

Before lunch time, Alex decided to have a talk to me regarding me being moved from blue team to his struggling Green team. I said, "I will still not consider a trade at this point in time, unless this team is fully committed to improve their performance first, and so far, your performance does not justify a trade on my terms." But then, one of the cameramen reminded me of a new rule that "if any team has less than 6 people on it at any time, then the council leader can select any one person from a different team to fill in the minimum requirements needed for any challenge." With that rule now in mind, my mindset has changed "if the green team loses one more person, I can and will be subjected to a trade without any approval."

After lunch time, the host rang the bell for the next town hall meeting. The first thing the host asked was regarding the council leaders that didn't keep their seats: Mike, Guylan, Markelle and Sophia. They all said that they were relieved that they don't have to deal with politics anymore and they can focus on their jobs better. Mike added "that it was heartbreaking to now sit down with everybody else off that stage, but it's for the better in the end." Markelle added "At least I got a viewpoint from both sides, now!" Sophia said "I feel a whole lot better now, and now I can just focus on my assigned job regardless of politics."

Meanwhile, the host asked if anyone wants to go home, and no one raised their hands so which means that we are still 37 kids strong in the middle of the desert.

Finally, let's give away the next gold star. Making the announcement was Laurel:  
"this person is a determined and hard worker and we feel that he deserves it. The gold star winner is . . . Pharaoh!"

Pharaoh then spoke in front of everyone "thank you council for giving me the gold star, it will help not only me a whole lot but my single mother as well!"

The host finally concluded with "I can't believe that we are already halfway through this journey and yet you guys are sticking to your guts, keep it up and keep building a better bonanza!"

Everybody then stormed out of the door wondering what will the second half of the season brings to us.


	20. Chapter 20

Day 20:

So, when I got up this morning, I noticed that Divad is obviously trying to sell extra food from the kitchen for a profit, and who can't blame her for trying to do that, her green team is in desperate need for some extra money. However, no one bought a single item from her, partly because according to Greg "five cents for a piece of food is too much, you can get a piece of candy for the same price or just wait until meal time to get fresh food for free. What's the damn point of this anyway, bribing for the gold star?"

Then all in the sudden Greg confronted Divad face to face and said, "If you are in a desperate need for money, finish better in the challenges and start saving your god damn money for once! The bank needs some customers right now, anyway so why be smart and not be a dumbass."

While all of this is going on, Jared decided to destroy Divad's stall and signs all over the place, stating that the idea is stupid and idiotic.

After breakfast, the council decided to make an announcement, Alex then spoke out and stated the following "I understand that the majority of people have been complaining about a lack of money in our economy and not enough people are saving for the worst case scenario. So we, the council has decided to go to the old mine outside of town limits and see what can we find there, and as soon as we get back by lunch time, we will make an another announcement."

While we are waiting, for that follow-up announcement, I started to realize that we haven't got any new clothes for close to 3 weeks or a better more effective way to do the laundry. As a result, no one is willing to trust the laundry at this point, which I kind of feel ashamed of. And by the way, we are only allowed a shower once a week before bed time.

At lunch time, the council came back with a boatload of stuff. Making this announcement is Laurel "when we got to the old mine, we found 500 buffalo nickels, but instead of giving it all to you, we decided to save 10 cents in the bank for all 37 of us, and spent the rest on fun items that will hopefully boost morale of this town up, because right now, we need to relax and take a break from the hard work we are doing the last 20 days!" Everyone was so relieved that they finally have fun with baseball, football and jump rope for at least 3 hours.

The host then rang the bell, for the showdown, which happens to be at 4 in the afternoon. This time, it was Mike from the orange team leading the town to the showdown site.

The host then explained what the challenge is about. It's basically you need at least two people to launch eggs over a 20ft wall. While the egg is in the air the council leaders will try to communicate where the egg is going because they are the only people that can see both sides of the challenge. On the other side, you need 3 people to catch the egg from mid-air using a giant cushion. If you are successful catching an egg, you need one district member to run to a box and put in it. The time limit is 15 minutes and you need 60 eggs for the reward.

Before the challenge started, Migle decided to place Kennedy, Savannah and myself catching the eggs with the cushion. And the other 5 people are going to launch the eggs over the wall. 5 minutes into the challenge, I realized that it's going to be tough to get the reward and I already run back to the box at least a dozen times, and yes the box is indeed far away.

After 10 more minutes of running back and forth, the host said it's over, and right away, I have a gut feeling that we didn't get the reward, despite me running back and forth a boatload of times. But let's wait and see what happens.

This time the host will start out with the last place team from the last challenge, which was Green team, then red, yellow, blue and orange.

First, let's count the green team's eggs here we go: 1, 2 "OMG! You can only muster two eggs in 15 minutes, that's terrible!"

Next, it's the red teams eggs: the host then started counting 1, 2, 3 . . . 14, 15, 16 eggs.

Third up, it is the yellow teams eggs: the host then counted again 1, 2, 3 4 eggs

Here's the situation right now: You have 22 eggs, so you need 38 for the reward, and then the host asked "Sophia, can you guys get the reward at this point?" She responded "nope!"

Next up, it's the blue teams eggs: the host then resumed counting 1,2, 3 . . . 30, 31, 32 eggs!

Before we move on to the orange team's egg count: I will remind you that you guys need 6 more eggs for the reward, so here we go!

The host resumed counting 1,2,3,4,5 . . . Orange team does indeed have the 6th egg, and the reward, but wait, there is more eggs left inside, Right now the Orange team has enough for merchants, to get the banker class you need 17 and for the upper class you need 33. Let's resume, 7, 8 eggs. So, you guys do get the reward for the second straight time!

Blue team is the upper class for the 6th time in 7 showdowns, the red team are the bankers, the orange team is the merchants, the yellow team are the cooks and the green team are still the laborers.

Now, this reward choice is all about money laundering, well it's actually money and laundry. Your reward choices are either a set of new clothes for everyone and crank operated laundry machines or a complete Laundromat with a washer and dryer, but its 20 cents for each one! So, council, take a walk and talk it out, it's going to be a tough decision.

The host asked us, what should the council chose, Blaine said, "the new clothes, because the Laundromat is too expensive for 40% of the town to use" Likewise, Taylor said, "we all need new clothes, because we all have been wearing the same clothes for the last 3 weeks now, and I personally love the outfits!"

So, council, what's going to be "convenience at a cost or new clothes and more money in your pockets?"

Laurel made the announcement: "this decision was ended up being an easier one for us to debate on. In the end, we all agreed that you guys are going to get the new clothes and the old school crank machines!"

I was like, "hell yeah, It's about damn time, we got a new outfit!"

And I'm sure everybody is relieved that they got a new set of clothes to use for the second half of the season!


	21. Chapter 21

Day 21

As I got up a little later than usual because of me running around yesterday, I noticed that some of the people like Mike are actually working out with the new crank machines, which was kind of original in its own way. Meanwhile, after I eat my breakfast I passed by Jared's new stall and he was selling necklaces for only 10 cents and I bought one of course! Heck, he told everyone at lunch time that he made $3 in nickels by just doing this! Then, he showed up his new "pimp" outfit to Migle, Natasha and me. But the real reason why Migle and Natasha called me over was to ask me if I have a crush on someone in this town or not. I responded "actually I have a crush on both of you and Kelsey, from the orange team, however as of now, I can't decide who I really want to flirt with?" Then, both Migle and Natasha told me that they are already taken by Greg and Blaine. I told them, "well, can you tell Kelsey to get over here, I want to tell her that I'm seriously considering having a relationship with her, because I really feeling lonely now!" After 2 hours or so talking it out with Kelsey, she ultimately came to the conclusion that I already have a gold star, so she can't ignore it and not to mention that I'm the only Asian teenage guy in this place! So, it was official, I'm in a relationship with Kelsey! Yay for me!

Kelsey and I spent dinner introducing ourselves to each other and of course trying to get our conflict from earlier on behind us. And she understood that I had changed a whole lot since the first week, and she is willing to be more considerate.

After dinner time, the council told us to make our choices for the next gold star, because the council can't decide who should win it. I responded "Jared, because he came up with this ingenious idea selling necklaces!"

So, bedtime, Greg and Blaine was like "yay, you are now a real teenager with a girlfriend!" And I was like, "hmm, thanks for that compliment!" then Blaine asked me, "why an Asian?" I responded, "Because from where I live, there are a truck load of Asian students in my neighborhood, that's why!"

Greg then asked, "Wait a second, this doesn't make enough sense, you are 15 and you are in a relationship with a freaking 11 year old? It sounds odd, is it?" I responded, "Sure, it may sound odd, but I don't give a damn about age, all I care about is the god damn character and personality of the person!"

Greg was like, "Oh, that's the reason, it's because the character fits in with your values?" I responded, "Exactly!" After a few more minutes conversing with them, I said the typical "good night" to them! And we all slept and dream, "why in the world we are going to have a relationship on national TV for?"


	22. Chapter 22

Day 22:

The first full day of my relationship with Kelsey! So, during breakfast, it went pretty much typical ho-hum, but hiding the fact that there's a town hall meeting this afternoon. And everybody including the council was still confused about who's going to win this next gold star. By lunchtime, Migle told me "it's more likely to be either Jared or Nathan for this next gold star, but it's still anyone's to earn at this point."

When the host rang the bell, everyone was so happy at this point that we got new toys and new clothes that everybody approved the job that the council was doing. Speaking of which, nobody decided to leave the show, not even Taylor. I guessing morale just hit at a new high for this social experiment that nobody is flirting with the idea of giving up.

The host then told the council who's going to be the next gold star winner?

Making the announcement was DK:

"This person may not be the strongest, or the hardest working, but he can pitch in whenever he's needed and he is willing to be unique enough to help benefit morale, the gold star winner is . . . Jared!"

Then Jared indeed speechless in front of us, managed to muster out while crying "thank you council, I can't believe that my efforts to boost morale deserved a gold star"

The host then asked Jared, what he's going to do with the money, "I will go to college and study to be a scientist thanks to the gold star!"

"What would you parents think about it?" Said the host

"Amazed and surprised" said Jared "and I really want that key to the only phone now!"

"As promised, here's the key to the only phone in bonanza, call them and bring them the good news!"

As the town celebrated with Jared, but of course after he finished his phone call. Meanwhile, Divad was still streaming mad, because she was the one that actually tried to bribe us to vote for her by selling food for 5 cents and serving a snack while we are in line to speak our minds out to the council about the gold star, and both of these things didn't work. So she was sitting all alone, obviously thinking about her next grand plan! But, nobody except for herself knows what it's going to be, so let's leave it at face value then and just enjoy the celebration!


	23. Chapter 23

Day 23

When I got up, I noticed that the bell was ringing non-stop for 5 minutes. So I got up, and went to the bell, and I was shocked that it wasn't the town council that rang that bell, but instead it was the whole Orange team that rang it. Maggie said "that we are fed up with the lack of fun in this place and we must do something to boost morale up even further and make this a town worth living in!"

The council was like speechless, and didn't even respond. Instead, they decided to read the journal and see what the next chapter is.

During breakfast, Laurel made the announcement, "I know how boring this town is starting to get, but I do understand that we have a whole lot of talented kids here, and therefore, we decided to have a talent show tomorrow night in the saloon!"

Everyone was like, "yeah, it's about time that we actually have fun for once!"

Then almost everybody went on the stage and signed up for our performance. In the end, I decided to tag along with Kelsey on the piano and Madison on the guitar a cover of a song that I hand-picked, but I will not tell anyone else what it is until the talent show itself

Before I practiced the lyrics myself, I gave Kelsey the Piano notes and Madison the Guitar tabs needed to practice. I then realize that this is actually a kind of difficult song to master especially the damn guitar solo near the end of the song. I actually think that the vocals are the easiest part of the song, then the Piano parts and then the guitar in order of difficulty from easiest to hardest. Furthermore, I decided to do this song as the closing act of the talent show. Not to mention, that Kelsey is doing the opening act with a piano solo! So, she is actually doing double duty tomorrow night!

But of course, before the talent show tomorrow night, we must prepare for the showdown in the afternoon tomorrow as well! So everybody will be so busy for preparations for both things, and by 9 PM we all went to sleep! Obviously, tomorrow will be a long day, a very long day indeed!


	24. Chapter 24

Day 24:

So, the long ass day begins with the showdown after breakfast. This showdown was essentially a big art project with gum and we have to do without any gloves on, which was the worst part of this whole thing. The time limit was 1 hour and of course, if all teams finished it within that time limit, we can get a reward for the whole town. As we start the challenge, it's more about being skilled gum chewers and making the damn gum stick on that board than actual strategy. By the halfway point, it was a three way race for upper class, between the blue, orange and red teams. Heck, by the 40 minute mark, everybody was starting to get exhausted with their chewing technique, including myself. With 10 minutes left to go, we were the first ones to get the flag up, but a piece of gum fell into the dirt, so we lost our upper class spot on the good old job board because red team did indeed capitalized on our mistake. A few moments later we finally did settle for bankers, then right behind them Orange team got Merchants. Yellow team got Cooks with about 1 minute left on the clock, but Green team didn't finish the challenge on time and we didn't get the reward, which was a choice of paint or a block party for the whole town to enjoy the next day!

So, in the afternoon everyone was practicing their acts for the talent show all over the town. We were indeed bummed that we failed to get the reward after getting a couple of them in a row. After we eat dinner fairly early, let's say 5:00 and we did our final hour of preparations, the talent show started at 6:30 with Markelle as the host!

Basically, the talent show was one of the most awesome parts of this whole experience, so I will tell you all of the acts that went on in their original order. First off, as planned, Kelsey did her piano solo to open up the show, which quite frankly was a hard thing to do to go first, but she did an awesome job. Then oddly enough Taylor and Leila did a duet of "small town girl", which by the way was Taylor's original work second. I personally found that it was a work in progress, despite the practice that they did. Third was Sophia with her harmonica solo, which was kind of mellow but still effective and Campbell then followed that with a bird whistle solo, which was one of the hardest things to try, but he pulled it off great. Fifth up were Morgan and Pharaoh with a duet of God Bless America which was pretty standard for a talent show. Then there's a short 1st intermission to go bathroom. When we resumed, Jared was next with his tough-ass Monologue from the Henry the Fifth book. Which quite frankly was a tough thing to do, but he pulled it with good enough passion to receive consideration from the crowd. Seventh in the order was Jasmine's original song, which had no name and it was indeed a finished product but I wasn't a big fan of R&B anyway, but it was decent enough. Following that was Erik's Original song on the piano "new jersey", written and composed by him, which was great for an original song. Then, it was Greg and Blaine's Romeo and Juilet skit with both of them in dresses, and I was cracking up the whole time, not as awesome as the Ken Kaniff skits from Eminem's albums, but it's still pretty funny. After the 2nd intermission and bathroom break, it was Laurel signing a cover of "Amazing Grace" as the tenth act. Then in act 11, it was Olivia's stand-up routine, which quite frankly was decent but not gold star amazing. And I realize that Madison, Kelsey and me was next after this act because I remembered that Kennedy's dance rap was before us, which was the 12th act. Quite frankly, Kennedy's dancing is actually pretty original if you ask me. Then, to finish the thing off in grand style, the 13th and final act was actually Madison, Kelsey and me doing our cover.

But before I started I said the following "I would dedicate this song to one of my friends, Joseph, back home that had passed away a couple weeks due to a terminal illness before I started this 40 day adventure. This is actually a cover of a Savatage song, it's called "Believe"

For your information: If you are so curious what the song sounds like or the lyrics to it, Google and Youtube are your friends because I will not post it here!

As I started out singing the lyrics, I realize that the crowd knew that this song was hard to do and copy the original screaming vocals from Jon Oliva. But when the 6 minutes was finally over I was so relieved because I knew that I nailed it almost perfectly! After that, I said "good night and god bless America and Bonanza city!"


	25. Chapter 25

Day 25

Obviously, after that long talent show yesterday, most of us decided to sleep in. When the council called us to the chapel for our recommendations for the gold star, everybody was still debating on one person to give it to. I personally said to the council "Kelsey, because she did two acts not just one!" In the late afternoon, the host called us to the town hall for yet another town hall meeting. After some joyful discussion, to say the least, the host asked "if anyone wants to go home right now?" And of course, no one wanted to leave as of now, mostly due to the talent show!

Then, the host asked the council who to give the next gold star to. The council took a long and I mean a long time to debate this one out. Eventually, Michael made the announcement, "this gold star was without a doubt the hardest one by far to decide on just one person. They were many and I mean many good choices, but we decided to give it to . . . Kelsey!"

Right away I was cheering for her. She then said to the host "this gold star will help me go to college somewhere else, what exactly is yet to be determined, but this is a big help for me. Thank you!"

So she got the key to the phone, and after we left town hall, I was waiting for her outside. When she saw me, she gave me a hug and we walked to the saloon together. Of course, as with every gold star winner, we always celebrate in the saloon. Then as we walk into the saloon together, everyone and I mean everyone was excited but kind of skeptical of me. Alex then asked me, "is that your new girlfriend?" I responded, "Yes, we decided to be in a relationship after all of this work in the talent show!" then divad said something offensive, "well, look we got here two Asians having a relationship, despite one of them being 4 years older than the other I never seen anything like this before." We both said, "Shut up divad, stop trying to be politically correct! And what's up with you trying to bribe for the gold star?" Divad said "I need it for doctor school in the future" Blaine then responded, "well stop trying to bribe and use other people for your benefit, then!" Taylor then said, "Deal with it!" towards Divad, obviously even she is pissed off at Divad! Then Divad said this: "well I am leaving next town hall meeting, if the council is not willing to give me a gold star!" the council then all said in unison, "we are not just going to give you the gold star, you have to prove to us that you deserve it!"


	26. Chapter 26

Day 26

When we got up for breakfast, Laurel made the journal announcement "I understand that the town is somewhat unfair in terms of showdown results, so we decided to trade some of you to different teams!"

I was like," Oh snap, I might have to say goodbye to blue team!" then Laurel said that in an effort to make the process more realistic, the worst team in the showdowns have the first pick! And the first pick goes to green team, followed by yellow, then Orange and red teams, then blue team have the final pick.

First up was Alex representing the green team, he then said, "as the worst team we need someone that can make a difference right away. Green team is selecting . . . Kyle!"

I was like, "Oh crap, I have to go from the best team to the worst team?"

Then yellow team was next, DK was making the announcement: "As the second worse team, we still need some work to do, so I decided to select . . . Jasmine."

Jasmine was really mad at the council at first, but determined to make an impact on her new team.

Then Orange team and Michael were next: "As the third best team, we need some help also in the challenges, so I decided to bring in . . . Eric!"

This move was huge, not only Eric got traded, which means that green team are down to five people.

Then red team was next with Laurel making the decision "It's tough to catch up with the blue team, but I feel that I need to make a move now. So I decided to bring in . . . Guylan!"

This move wasn't pretty but it can work, especially considering that Guylan is from the same state as Laurel.

Then Blue team was the final team to make a move: "as the best team, we need to stay at top right now! So I decided to bring in . . . Sophie."

This move is huge as well. Now, Green team is down to 4 people, maybe even down to 3 people if Divad leaves at the next town hall meeting or gets traded before this challenge.

After all of this movement, there could be even more movement before the showdown, I talked to Alex and I said that Divad should be traded to a better team. Then Divad comes and said that she is willing to be traded only to the top two teams (blue and red teams.) But Alex and I countered with "we are considering trading you to third-place orange team, are you still fine with that?" After much debate, Divad said "fine, I don't want to be a distraction to anyone on this team anymore. So I will accept the trade. And in addition, this allows me to leave the show as a member of the orange team not the green team."

As the town was mad and looking for answers, Hunter and Mike from the orange team decided to hold a prayer service using the holy books that we won open to anyone that was concerned about the recent turmoil. After the service was over, the host rang the bell and it's time for the showdown, but when we got to the showdown. The host then made some interesting comments starting with green team, "wow, are you serious, you are down to 4 people?" Alex said, "We tried our best but we still need help!" the host then turned to yellow and red teams, "I guess that Jasmine and Guylan got traded as well, Jasmine, how is this on you? She responded, "I need to do what I need to do with my new team, I don't care about the past anymore." Orange team, "You got Divad and Eric?" Michael said, "We need to close the gap to the top two teams somehow." Finally, Blue team, the top team, how is all of the trades going to affect your chances of still being the top team?" Migle said, "It's still possible, but we need to keep focused on the last part of the season and try to get a strong finish going as soon as possible."

The host then said, "that in order to keep the green team afloat the team is allowed to select at least two kids that are not on council to join the Green team for the remainder of the season, but the decision is irreversible so be careful on who to choose." So green team, talk it out, and come to your selections.

Alex said, "Look, we should consider selecting Blaine for sure, but how about the second person, who should we choose. I suggest savannah for the second person, but what do you guys think?" I responded, "I vote for Kelsey!" Sophia said, "Why Kelsey, we traded her once, but you say we want her again, I suggest Jared instead. Brett then responded, "I want Maggie to be the second person." After a long debate, Alex made the tough announcement, "I decided to bring in three people instead of two. We want to select . . . Jared, Kelsey and Savannah to our team."

The host said, "Okay, with that out of the way, here's how the challenge works. It's basically a sled, a pile of rocks and an obstacle course. At the word "GO" each team decides how many rocks to put in the sled, but as soon as you cross the rope in front of the sled, you can't go back and remove rocks! To get the reward, you need to haul in a total weight of 2500 pounds, which is essentially the weight of a subcompact Chevy Aveo! So are you going to be the team that gets upper class and no rocks or do you carry a whole boatload of rocks and finish last? That decision is up to each team!"

As of this moment: here are the teams after the trades for your info:

Green: Alex (TC), Brett, Kyle, Sophia, Jared, Savannah, and Kelsey

Yellow: DK (TC), Jasmine, Nathan, Taylor, Leila, Mallory and Olivia

Blue: Migle (TC), Greg, Blaine, Zach, Colton, Natasha, Kennedy, Sophie

Red: Laurel (TC), Guylan, Anjay, Markelle, Morgan, Pharaoh, Gianna

Orange: Michael (TC), Eric, Madison, Maggie, Mike, Divad, Campbell, Hunter

After the host said go, we decided to only carry the amount that we can handle, and try our chances to get our first upper class win, and we indeed get our upper class win. Blue team got bankers, while Orange team got Merchants, Red got cooks and Yellow got laborers.

Now the moment of truth is how much rock did we have inside?

First up is the green team: they carried 390 pounds

The host said, "WOW, the green team didn't carry that much rocks."

Next, the blue team, they carried a whopping 550 pounds

"they came in second, but man they pulled out their fair share of rocks."

Then the orange team: they carried 470 pounds

"They carried a decent enough, but not enough for their fair share." Said the host afterwards

Next up, the red team: they carried 450 pounds

"They finished behind orange team and carried less rock than them? This is confusing indeed!" said the host

"But now, here's the situation, you have 1860 pounds of rock, so you need a whopping 640 pounds from the Yellow team to win the reward" Said the host, Here we go!

Ouch, the yellow team only got 490 pounds of rocks, you are short 150 pounds, so you do not get the reward!

Now, the reward choice was a choice between . . . beds for everyone or a decked out lounge that only carries 16 people at a time! Back to your bunks!


	27. Chapter 27

Day 27:

This chapter is dedicated to the 5th anniversary of Kid Nation's first episode airing on CBS. Enjoy, this special chapter from me!

I got up at 8 A.M. and eat breakfast with Kelsey. It's pretty self-evident that there is a town hall meeting today and it shows. The host rang the bell just shortly after lunch time, which quite frankly was way too early to have a town hall meeting. When we got inside, we saw the voting boxes and right away I was thinking "election time again, that's Perfect, I can probably run against the council and hopefully win!"

The host started off with the typical "does anybody want to go home?" then Divad and Taylor raised their hands. Divad said, "It's obvious that I can't get the gold star, so I am giving up!" Taylor said "I missed my bed and give up, enough said!"

Next order of business is the gold star trophy, worth $20,000. "So council who deserves the gold star?" said the host, "Talk it among yourselves for a few minutes and come to your conclusion."

Making the announcement was Alex: "I feel that this decision for this gold star is probably one of the hardest things to come up with just one person. This person has a strong heart and never gives despite being on the last place team. The gold star winner is . . . Sophia"

Sophia then came up and accepted the prize, she then said "finally, I got my own gold star. I never thought that I could have won this, but thank you council for recognizing my value to bonanza city!"

The host then said, "Do you want to call your parents?" Sophia said "sure" the host then responded, "Well, you have to wait for a long time before you get the chance to call home, because we are going to have elections for council!"

After all 5 current council members had the chance to come up with a 1 minute speech. Then the real fun starts, who will run against the council?

I quickly raised my hand in confidence, to run against Alex. Then shortly thereafter Olivia raised her hand to run against DK, for the yellow team.

Then in a complete shock, Greg raised his hand to run against Migle for blue team. While Anjay decided to run against Laurel for red team, but then the host asked, "Does anyone from orange team wants to run against Michael?" despite this question, no one from orange team raised their hand to run against him.

The host then called me on the stage to make my speech,

"We always been told that we suck, we don't enough strength, we are not smart, we are not mature enough and we don't have what it takes. To improve and stay there, effort is necessary, the best have their preparation and they are never satisfied of doing a good enough job. If we want to not finish in last place, it's right now or never. I will strive so no one can deny me, my mind, my heart and my soul. The gold star inspired me and now the biggest prize is our biggest goal. I am the oldest cast member here, of course, that's the unique thing about this. 15 years of Wisdom, 15 years of street smarts, 15 years of passion. I want to live long after my legacy has been written, long after my gold star has been used for my future. Whatever we have to do to make sure that we win upper class. As I end this, I remind you to ask yourself this question. How will you be remembered for after this show is over? Are you going to strive for the greatest accomplishment in your lifetime? Whoever you are remember to leave your mark on Bonanza city and the future. Thank you!"

Meanwhile, next up is Olivia, "this is not a popularity contest. Vote for the person you think will lead this team to the top and may the best person win!"

Greg was next: "you guys are thinking, please do not put Greg on council, but I am here to prove myself that I belong on council and I will change for the better."

Finally, it was Anjay's turn to make a speech, "I have the street and book smarts to help this team right now, so go ahead and choose wisely."

Then, there's the moment of truth, after everybody votes, the host will read every single vote.

First up was the green team: Alex vs. Me

Alex

That's his own vote

Kyle

That's my vote

Kyle

That's kelsey's vote

Kyle

That's brett's vote

Kyle

That's sophia's vote

Alex

That's savannah's vote

Kyle

That's jared's vote

Guess I got on council, by a 5-2 victory!

Next up was the yellow team: DK vs. Olivia

DK

That's his own vote

DK

That's jasmine's vote

Olivia

That's her vote

Olivia

That's mallory's vote

Olivia

That's leila's vote

Olivia

That's nathan's vote

So Olivia won 4-2

Next was blue team: Migle vs. Greg

Migle

That's migle's own vote

Greg

That's greg's vote

Migle

That's sophie's vote

Greg

That's blaine's vote

Greg

That's zach's vote

Migle

That's natasha's vote

Greg

That's colton's vote

Greg

That's kennedy's vote

Greg won over Migle 5-3

Finally, it's Laurel vs. Anjay for the red team council seat

Laurel

That's laurel's own vote

Anjay  
That's anjay's vote

Anjay

That's pharaoh's vote

Anjay  
That's markelle's vote

Anjay

That's guylan's vote

Anjay

That's morgan's vote

Anjay

That's Gianna's vote

Anjay won in a landslide 6-1 victory

The host then concluded the meeting with "good luck new council members, you will need it, Sophia call your parents and the rest of you back to your bunks!"


	28. Chapter 28

Day 28:

Sorry, if I haven't been posting lately, I'm busy with midterms for college. But on a side note, this is a completely random chapter, because I accidently miscounted the days! So keep that in mind. Enjoy!

Oh boy, my first day as a town council member. I'm excited but eager to read the journal, but too bad the producers told us that we can't visit the chapel, which is where the journal resides. Instead, the cameraman told us that this day is spent exclusively on behind-the-scenes footage for the show itself. Which means, that there's no challenge or announcement today, it's basically just a "lazy" day for all of us that still in Bonanza city. After getting some good and raw behind the scenes stuff today, we finally got a proper shower off the set! Yay, it's about damn time that we got a proper shower, after 4 weeks of not doing so! At the same time, the producers warned us, that we all should enjoy it while it lasts, because that's the only shower you would get from now to the end of the final day! So, hopefully, you are doing your best to clean up!

Speaking of good and raw behind the scenes stuff, there was among other things, a fashion show going on near the red teams' bunkhouse, a bandana fight contest near the kitchen, a soda fight in the saloon, and a dance-off in the middle of the town.

I decided to participate in the dance-off for the heck of it, I looked stupid, some people today would call my dance moves reminiscent to Gangham style! If you ever seen that music video on Youtube, then you know what the hell I'm talking about!

After shower time, we were then being sent to the town hall, but this time, it's not for a town hall meeting, but this time, for a full-scale interview by the cameraman themselves. It took at least a half-hour to finish answering the questions from the cameraman. After that experience, we were finally sleeping in our bunkhouses, understanding that we resume back to business the following day!


	29. Chapter 29

Day 29

Caution: Be prepared for a weird set of events ahead!

I got up at 6 AM and it's obvious that I have to get used to get up this early until the end of the season. When I got to the chapel, Greg and Michael were already up and then he told me to ring the bell as hard as I can! As soon as I had enough time ringing that bell, Olivia and Anjay came and meet us. But when we got inside the chapel, the producers fooled us, there wasn't a journal entry for today, as we all thought. Instead the journal said "Wait for a few days!"

I was shocked, "come on, what's the point of having the journal when there is nothing to do!"

Then all in a sudden, Greg, thought of an idea, "how about getting everyone in the saloon, and played a game when if you disrespected someone, we have to start it all over again." I responded, "Wait a second, that's going to be a bad idea, trust me!" Michael and the rest of the council did agree with my opinion.

When I was walking around the town, the talk was obviously Greg on Council, and I overheard Sophia saying that "they are very worried that the town will be dead before the end of the season because of this."

After lunch time, Greg rang the bell again and told everyone to meet him in the saloon for an important announcement. I was like "Oh crap, what is he going to do now?"

We would be forced to do the respect game because of Greg being a Jerk, it took us 90 minutes to finally get through all of us without someone messing it up. And then Greg said, "If you name is called, that means you can't participate in the showdown later this afternoon! And then he said many and I mean many names, Migle, Natasha, Kelsey, Jared, Olivia, Michael, Laurel, Anjay, Eric, Colton, Leila, Markelle, Hunter, Eric, Mike, Morgan and Myself. That's 17 people that got banned from this challenge because some of them were talking in the middle, or asking to go to the bathroom in my case, or otherwise not paying 100% attention to the whole thing!

When we went to the showdown, right away, Greg said the list of 17 people that would not participate in the showdown due to violation of rules during the respect game. The host said, "wait a second, if four council members are banned, then why can't you be banned then?" Then the rest of the town demanded Greg to be banned from this challenge as well. Eventually, the host, said "Greg will be banned from this challenge as well, meaning that all 5 teams will have to select one person to be the designated council leader just for this challenge, but before you do that, we must explain this challenge. It's basically you need 6 total people to participate in this challenge but since 16 people got banned from this challenge, we would need to make changes in the challenge itself, so you guys back to your bunks and see you in the nighttime for the challenge itself.

After eating dinner the host finally rang the bell for the challenge which took place at 8:30 in the night, without any artificial light to help us, making this challenge the first and maybe only time it takes place in the night time!

The host finally explained the challenge itself, basically you will need one person to get the pies and the second person will receive the pie from one platform and while standing on the balance beam walk across it while trying to prevent the pie from falling off the pie holder. When you are successful to get 6 pies across, the third person, will have to figure out what's the correct order of the 6 inventions of communication, from the oldest to the newest. But, you will only have 45 minutes for all of the teams to get the order correct, in order to get the reward. So time is of the essence!

So, each team will have to choose who will try to solve the puzzle.

After each team chooses their person that will solve the puzzle. The host said, "GO!"

And then the whole council had to watch from the sidelines plus the other people that got banned as well.

Early on, it seemed that the Blue team had the initial advantage because they have four people that are eligible to participate, But then Again, Alex, DK, Zach, Guylan, and Maggie were trying to figure out which invention came out when.

It seemed like an eternity until someone finally got all 6 pies across the balance beam successfully, but it was Blue team that did that feat first, now Zach just had to figure out the correct order. Eventually, the blue team got upper class, but it was highly unlikely that we could get the reward. As time ran out, the Orange team finished as bankers and green district finished as merchants. But the Yellow and Red teams didn't finish the puzzle in time. But since the Yellow team got their final pie across earlier, the yellow team was the cooks but the red team had to settle for last place. We didn't get the reward again, which was a choice of . . . Letters from home or the ponies.

Everyone was pissed off at Greg afterwards and most if not all of them promised that Greg must get kicked off council or else they will protest until successful. Now us, the council is in a pickle, do we let Greg off the council, or risk further ramifications from the town?


	30. Chapter 30

Day 30:

"Oh man, I don't get the reward at all because of that bitch, Greg!" I want him off the council as we all got up and eat breakfast. Then I saw most of the town's other pioneers holding strike posters to try to get Greg off council or else he will be forced to leave the show. I then asked Blaine, "Why are you going to try to get Greg off council, I thought you were his best supporter?" Blaine then said, "I just realized after the showdown that he's really immature and should be punished for his recent actions to the maximum degree. Whatever that means, I don't know, but he has to be punished somehow." Afterwards, Migle demanded that "if you can't convince Greg to either get off council then we will demand that Greg leave the show."

Meanwhile, everyone was crying all around the place about missing their parents. Alex and Brett finally showed me their family picture that he bought with him to Bonanza. Of course, I bought my family photo with me as well.

After lunch, I decided to do something about this Greg issue. I then saw Greg debating verbally towards Blaine. I said to Greg "I do understand that most of the town hated the respect game the other day, but come on, why do you insist that the town can't get the reward in the showdown for a third straight time, because we failed to respect you?" Greg responded, "Well, I do realize that the town failed to get a reward choice for a third straight challenge would force people to consider leaving the show anyway." I then said, so, why do you want to let this town collapse, then?" Greg, suddenly became defensive, I don't want to make the town fail, I want to make it work!" I then reminded him about the gold star that he won from Day 7, "well, remember what you did to help out the town and you won a gold star for it, whatever happened to the old Greg, that was nicer, where is he right now?" He then thought hard about his identity as the second-oldest person on the show. After 5 minutes of slience, the rest of the council came and he then told the rest of town council that "I do realize that people think that I am too mean for a council member, and it's true that I need to change but I am not willing to leave the show, I will stay until the end. However, in the next town hall I would announce my formal resignation from the council, let Zach take over my seat on council, and move to the Green team but please don't tell anyone else that. Is that a deal, that all of you are okay with?"

After much debating among the four of us, we all agree to the proposal. And then we all shake hands and are confident heading to the town hall the next day.


	31. Chapter 31

Day 31

When the rest of the town did get up for breakfast, the talk was still on Greg and what will his future holds. The rest of the town still has no clue what will be announced, but the council warned that it's going to be huge news in a good way. Much of the town is still confused about what the news can be. I have been ordered by Greg himself to keep quiet on the matter, until it has been announced in the town hall meeting in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, Laurel was starting to get really discouraged by the fact that it we missed three straight reward choices and she is flirting with the idea of giving up and leaving the show.

Anyways, we still have to decide who gets the gold star, since I am on the council, this is my first time that I get to be involved in the process. I must choose someone to get it beforehand. Eventually, the council decided that Laurel would get it, if the rumors of her leaving happened to be false. But if she does leave, then we are screwed.

The host rang the bell at 4:00, and then right away, we told the host that we have an announcement to make, I then made the announcement: "I do understand that you wanted Greg off the council or else he will leave the show. Well, after massive talks yesterday with him, he has agreed to resign as council member, and he will name Zack as his replacement." The crowd was cheering so loud and then I told them the second part of the announcement. "In addition, Greg will be switched to the Green team as part of this deal. He claims that he needs a fresh start, and switching teams will make sense at this current point of time. Thank you for his understanding, and god bless bonanza." The host said, Wow, that was a long announcement, but thankfully Greg will be staying until the end. But how about the rest of you, is anyone going to leave and give up?" In a pleasant shock, no one, not even Laurel raised their hands to give up." So, we are still 35 strong then, it's amazing that you guys are so tough, but last order of business is the gold star pioneer, council, who will it be?" Greg made the announcement, this person, made me realize that the voices of others have to be respected and considered, the gold star winner is . . . Laurel!

Well, Laurel, it's all yours, what do you have to say, "thank you, and I want a group hug from the council first!" After the group hug was done, Laurel said, "I never thought that I was in contention for the gold star, anyway, and I was indeed considering leaving, but my decision to stick it out, worked for me and now I become $20,000 richer!" the host then gave Laurel the key to the only working phone in Bonanza city, and she left in a heartbeat. The host said, "Zach, good luck being on council, you have big shoes to fill indeed and pioneers back to your bunks!"

After dinner, Greg moved his sleeping bag and his stuff to the green boys Bunk, and he then said, "It's a fresh start, moving from the best team to probably the worst team in the whole town, but we are in it together, thanks to you, I would have never changed!" I responded, "I know that the town needs you to contribute like your old self back in the first half of the season, and I know how much pressure is it to lead by example, good night and sleep deep!"


	32. Chapter 32

Day 32:

Oh Crap, I messed up the days again! Sorry about that slight error! The start of episode 11 in the show started on day 31, not 32!

As I got up at 6 in the morning, I saw Leila and Sophie blocking the entry of the chicken coop from Sophia. Sophia then told me, "we should kill 10 chickens for lunch later on today". I said, "Sure, we haven't had enough fresh food in a long time!" Then a big fight went on over which ones to keep and which ones to kill. This time, Blaine was the one to stop it. In the end, Leila and Sophie got to choose the 10 chickens. But after this was over, Leila shouted, "We need some animal makeup here." Sophia then shouted, "shut up, Leila, you dumb idiot."

It's obvious that it's long due for a journal entry, and so after breakfast the council, which consists of Michael, Anjay, Zach, Olivia and myself went inside the chapel and finally we all read the next chapter of it!

"May 2, 1885:

If you reading this, you been living in Bonanza for 32 days, you have been working really hard, but you played really hard as well. That's the same thing that happened to us, but let me tell one thing we didn't do, STUDY!

After you guys eat breakfast, do you want to hit the books?

In this box, is 5 history books, I do understand that you are busy, but do you want your free time to be in school instead?

The Choice is all up to you!"

After reading it, my first thought was "what if the showdown does have something to do with these books? If I think so, then we must do it!"

Olivia said, "yeah, I just thought that the showdown was later this afternoon, and if the showdown has to do with these books, that I'm on the same boat as you."

Zach said, "I know that education is important and we haven't done a single thing to benefit us, so we should do it."

Anjay responded with, "I know some of the town probably is against it, but if it's for the showdown, we must be forceful with them for once."

Micheal finally said, "I am also for it, but if any of us don't come out of this exercise in one piece, I will not be shocked, but we all hope that if it does happen, it may be me or anyone in this chapel."

Making the announcement was Zach, "We read the journal again, and one of the many reasons why bonanza city failed is because of a lack of education!"

Right away, Leila, Colton and Sophie were shaking their heads.

Then I said, "look, education is important, if you are saying that you don't care about learning, then you are sending the wrong message to national TV audience that will be watching this!"

After some debate, we the council decided to force them to study anyway, knowing that in our gut that the showdown may have something to do with these books.

Afterwards, Jared yelled, "education is the root of civilization!"

During our study session, thankfully, we have Alex reading out the stuff, then Sophia acting out the things at the same time, so that we can remember everything.

It's 3 in the afternoon and we got to the showdown site after a massive study session, and the host asked, "Who did their studying?" Everybody except Leila raised their hands.

Anyways, this showdown is all about these books and we are going to do a pop quiz involving slingshots and balloons!

Basically, you have to aim and remove 2 of the balloons that you think contain the wrong answers, the first team to successfully get it down to one balloon AND get the correct answer to the question, gets a point. The first team to 3 points becomes the upper class. One more note, to get the reward, you must have a certain amount of ammo remaining at the end of the challenge, enough to fill up this ammo box to the top! So every shot is important!

Thankfully, for my green team Greg can easily handle the slingshot duties by himself, so that way Alex and me can get the correct answer to him. That strategy worked great for us. But as the questions keep flying by, Green and Orange teams got 2 points each. Then blue team got their second point shortly thereafter. So, essentially, it's a three way fight, between the green, Orange and Blue teams.

But, the Orange team, thanks in large part by Hunter got upper class, but green team did get Bankers, then shortly thereafter the Blue team got merchants.

10 minutes later, it's down to Yellow and red teams for the cooks. Eventually, Red team got the cooks, and yellow settled for last place.

Now, let's see if we got the reward by placing our leftover ammo into the ammo jar. Eventually, after some nailbiting moments by the Yellow team, we did barely get enough ammo to get the reward.

The reward is a choice between an arcade or a library. I was the first one to weigh in on the decision, "if we get the arcade, the town will probably collapse, so I'm in favor of the library. Trust me, It's addicting and I don't want that to happen to the rest of the town."

Olivia said, "I do agree that the arcade is fun, but we have to keep in mind that we need that library somehow."

Zach said, "You can always get some fun at the dry goods store, so what's the point of the arcade anyway?"  
Michael said, "I am not in favor of selecting the arcade, also, just because of the addiction factor."

Anjay said, "Same here, Library is the need item, but the arcade is the want item, but I'm going with the need item as well."

When we went back to the host, the host asked us what it's going to be, Anjay made the call, "well, I do understand that the town hasn't have a reward since 10 days ago, but we the council all agree that the library was the best choice." All of the town's residents then booed at us, for not choosing the want item." I responded to them critics, "I don't want this town to get addicted to gaming, so we must choose the need item."

"So, Back to your bunks", said the host!


	33. Chapter 33

Day 33:

It's obvious that the town was steaming at us for choosing the library not the arcade.

Then I heard that Leila wants to leave because she claims that "the town is boring as hell and it's not getting better, especially after Taylor, her best friend left the show."

Meanwhile, I noticed that Hunter is finally cleaning up the kitchen and the dishes. And then he told me, that his dad got laid off due to the bad economy, and he needs the gold star for his family's survival and future.

Later in the afternoon, the council decided to debate on who's going to get the next gold star, "I said, "Hunter, because he's hard working and doesn't give a damn about where he ends up working in the challenges." Olivia and Anjay suggested Nathan, "because he's hard working but he's rather different in a good way."  
At the end of the meeting, we still couldn't decide between Nathan and Hunter, but at least we narrowed it down to two.

After dinner, Olivia then told me, that her yellow team would probably lose Leila to homesickness, and we should help her to convince Leila to stay.

So, after a good 15 minutes with the yellow team, we come to the conclusion, that Leila will not budge on her opinion about us choosing the library not the arcade, despite trying so hard to sway her the other way.

Suddenly, I became concerned about the health of the Yellow team, if Leila leaves, then they are down to 5 people on this team, and therefore, they need someone else to replace her spot on the roster.

Then I talked to Jared about a trade possibility. I said "if Leila leaves, would you mind getting traded to yellow team for the remaining week?" Jared responded, "Look, if you insist that Leila leaves tomorrow, then I would consider helping out the cause, but I need to sleep on it."

We all then said, "Good night" to each other.


	34. Chapter 34

Day 34:

Before I start this next chapter, I would want to respond to two comments and other questions before moving on.

LuvLife113: Well, thanks for the comment. Yeah, Taylor leaving the show and me being on council was indeed a surprise for everyone reading this story.

Obviously Entei: Thank you also for that Asian comment, and yes I did look it up the two other people you referenced during my spare time!

In regards to possible ideas for the next story I might do:

I may or may not go crossover on my next story. If I indeed do a crossover, it will likely be the cast of kid nation 10 years later along with a video game (likely Gran Turismo 5) or if I decided against doing a crossover, I will likely do something along the lines of madden NFL 04's Franchise mode. Yeah, football is my favorite sport!

As I got up to start yet another day of this experience, I did talk to Kelsey and my other team members in the boys bunk about the possibility of a Jared trade to yellow team, if Leila does indeed leave in the town hall meeting. I then asked if the rest of the team approves it or not.

After the hour or so meeting with my teammates, which by the way we approve the measure to trade Jared to Yellow team only if Leila does indeed leave.

Two hours before the town hall meeting, Greg called me over and he told me that the town "is boring as hell and we need some fun for once, but I give kudos to you for not choosing the arcade and instead choosing the library."

And then we realize that we are running out of chances for rewards in the showdown, the next one could be the final chance to win a reward, and that is of course not a given because we have to earn it somehow.

The host then rang the bell for yet another town hall meeting and who would get the gold star. At the beginning, some of the town started to accept the choice of the library because of the arcade's addiction factor, but most of the town still was not supportive of the library stating that "we are supposed to get away from school not be in it!"

I responded, "Sure, we are not in school, but still it's supposed to be an experiment that proves that we can do this job successfully and sometimes the decision that you want may not be the best choice for this job that we are in."

The host then asked us if anyone wants to go home. Right away, I saw leila's hand go up. The host then asked, "why now, you only have less than a week remaining until the end, explain it to us?" Leila then said, "this town is boring ever since Taylor, my best friend left, I felt that this town is not worth the 6 more days to suffer and fight it out, so I will give up, because of the lack of fun stuff to do." After Leila left, I announced that as a result of Leila leaving, Jared will be traded to Yellow team for the remainder of the season.

Finally, the gold star trophy, worth $20,000, we still need to decide who should get it, after our council debated some more last-minute things. Anjay made the announcement, "This person works hard and is determined to improve his team's work ethic. The gold star winner is . . . Hunter!"  
Hunter then came up and said that "this gold star will help his family out of their current pickle that they are in right now due to the recession."  
The host then said, "6 more days left to the end, the council has one more big journal entry, the town has one more showdown and a ton of twists ahead, be prepared for anything, and back to your bunks!"


	35. Chapter 35

Day 35:

When I got up, I saw Sophia trying an experiment in the middle of the town. The experiment is you can't go through the exact middle of town, without paying her 5 cents. Of course, no one gave her anything. Meanwhile, the council looked at the journal for the final time. Here's what it said:

May 5, 1885:

If you reading this, you are been living in Bonanza City for 35 days, and by now I bet you know your town. But do you know what exists beyond Bonanza?  
Back in 1885, we spent much time working and we never explored beyond our borders, don't make the same mistake we did, explore!

Attached to this was a map and it's past that mine and then some!

I was thinking, "Well, we are forced to hike to the location and stay the whole night and the following day over there!"

Michael said, "Well, the showdown is the next day and we don't know what the rewards are and what the challenge is?"

I made the announcement, "well, the journal told us to leave all of you behind for the next 2 ½ days and we would be back for the next town hall meeting, if we get back successfully! Which means that there will be no council members, so it's up to you to run this place and do the showdown the next day. Good luck, you will need it!"

So, the council started the hike but before we can do it, a producer shows up and we would be told occasional updates through him. Meanwhile, when we finally got there, we saw teepees, which means one thing, the Native Americans are our guests, and we have to live with them!

When we arrived, they greeted us with respect and we saw their leader.

We started with our questions to him,

I asked, What's the best advice for the younger people that they may not listen to your leadership?

Obviously, I asked this is because of the fear that some of the younger kids may leave and not last the remaining 5 days.

He responded "Always offer support, no matter what, they are our future."

Meanwhile, we got our first update from the producer after this question. The producer said, that the "town is working great, the dishes were finally cleaned for once, all of the stores were cleaned, obviously they want to leave this place on a good note."

A couple hours later, the chief under the night sky decided to tell us some stories in front of a campfire.

He said "in life it's so easy to be mean, selfish but it's hard to live well, it's the rougher road." Michael said, in other words, "we should push our limits."

Then I came up with a novel idea, "I know that the gold star was supposed to be for the best people only, but I noticed that we need to give it to someone with a lot of potential but is also one of the younger pioneers." Michael said, "I actually think that this is a great idea, we have been neglecting the younger ones for a long time now, so maybe this will raise morale among these people?"


	36. Chapter 36

Day 36:

When the council got up, we got an update from the producer that "the showdown will start in a hour or so. When it starts, I will update you every 10 minutes, but if the town wins the reward, I will tell you what the choices are, but I will not tell you their decision. However, if the town does not win the reward, I will tell you that they were unsuccessful."

The producers told us the showdown setup, it involves moving an entire house, an animal, and a flag across a ridge. Each team only has 1 hour to finish the challenge.

ten minutes later, the first update came from the producer: Green and Red teams neck and neck for first, the rest are battling for third place.

Then another update came: 20 minutes in, "Green and Red teams still neck and neck, but Blue and Orange are battling for third place, yellow team are struggling yet again."

10 minutes later, "Halfway through, Green team got upper class, and Red team will finish as bankers, but now the battle for merchants will be between Blue and Orange teams."

20 minutes afterwards, "10 minutes left, Blue team finished as merchants, and orange team just finished as cooks, but now the reward fate is up to yellow team again."

Then the producer came up one final time, and told us, that "the town did indeed get the reward, by 3 seconds! The reward choice will be either a monument or a hot air balloon ride, but you will get to see the reward choice when you come back to Bonanza tomorrow afternoon!"

In the night time, the producer came again, to give us an update about the town's situation, the producer said to the council, "well, the town has meet in the saloon to reflect on their time here, they are currently talking about their experiences, and the town said hello to the council!"

A couple minutes later, the producer gave us another update, "Migle just spoke about the fact that she wasn't born here to everyone for the first time outside of the blue team. She also revealed that she felt that this experience was like coming to America as an immigrant for the first time."

The council said good night to each other, still with the chief, we were excited about what the town did choose as the reward choice, but that has to wait until tomorrow!


	37. Chapter 37

Day 37:

We managed to hike all the way back to Bonanza city, and when we got there we saw 5 hot air balloons floating over Bonanza. I was like, "come on I want to ride a hot air balloon!" Anjay said, "I knew they would choose the hot air balloon ride, anyway"

When the town finally saw the town council, we did indeed jump inside the hot air balloon, one for each team. I was amazed and proud that the rest of the town made this the reward choice.

Meanwhile, the council asked the rest of the town to give us their thoughts about who should get the next gold Star most people wanted Alex to get the gold star.

So, when we held the next town hall meeting, we got back to business as usual, the town was generally happy in the end that the council tested them to run this town.

Of course, being day 37, no one, thank goodness wanted to leave, so on with the gold star.

The council ultimately agreed on one person, I then made the announcement, "I understand that the gold star winner was usually one of the older people lately, so for this gold star, we decided to throw the curveball out and give it to someone that has potential but is young, the gold star winner is . . . Alex!"

Then Alex came up and showed off his smarts and thanking the council to respect the younger pioneers for once.

Then the council decided to held a special bonfire, Anjay said, "bonanza city means everything, it's the only place that I can fit in."

Migle responded, "Well, I wished that we all can come back to the same home when this is over, but we are all over the country, so it's next to impossible to meet up again."

After some more people give out their emotions, we all went to bed in our bunks, thinking well, "we should enjoy this while it lasts."


	38. Chapter 38

Day 38:

We were sleeping in, but all in the sudden, Mike woke the whole town up, saying that the job board is on fire

After 20 minutes finally getting that fire out, DK reminded everyone "that the job board is not the whole god damn town. Instead, we are the town!"

Then the host came up, and said, "That the fire was done on purpose and the journal will be burned as well. This means that there will be no challenge the next day, which also means that the only way you can buy stuff is with the money you saved in the bank over the last 37 days. Now you guys know why there was a bank in the first place, now if you don't have any money saved in the bank, you will have to learn the hard way, again, just like in day 1!"

Furthermore, the host said, "this will be the ultimate test of your skills, by far, good luck, you will need it!"

A couple hours later, some select people that didn't save money starting stealing candy and dry goods, and its indeed a pain in the butt for the council to manage. It was so bad that the dinner was just like the pasta from Day 1!

Eventually, the council decided to punish the people that stole candy and dry goods, stating that they will have to clean the whole town up all day tomorrow by themselves, while the rest of the town that didn't steal gets to enjoy time with each other.


	39. Chapter 39

Day 39:

When we all got up, there were 10 people cleaning the whole town up after the mess yesterday. Eventually, after we all eat our lunch, the host rang the bell and told us to come with him to an unknown area. When we got the area, we saw nothing but desert hills, and then the host told us "that there will be no showdown, but there is something that has to get solved before the final day and it's this. He then pulled off the final $20,000 gold star out of its bag and the council has to decide who gets it right now!"  
The council then walked off and we debated and debated about who should get it. We eventually narrowed it down to just two people, but it was hard narrowing it to just one person. Making this tough announcement was Zach, "well this person was a great two-term council member, and she has been working great ever since the beginning, the gold star winner is . . . Migle.

Migle then came up, and said, "Well, this will help my family a whole lot and myself as well, thank you council."

After some more reflections and time to pray afterwards, we all went to sleep for the final time in Bonanza city!


	40. Chapter 40

Day 40

When we got up for the final day, the host right away rang the bell after breakfast time. He said that there will be one final challenge and it involves 3 separate parts all over Bonanza, and there are 3 $50,000 gold stars to be won, if you can finish all 3 parts in 1 hour. But if you only finished two tasks in time, you will only get two of these gold stars, and finally if only one task was done successfully, the town only gets 1 $50,000 gold star.

The three tasks are cooking a Spaghetti meal, setting up picnic tables and cleaning up the garbage bin for the final time ever!

When the first third of the town started to do the picnic tables in the beginning, we are thankful for the library's how-to books that we got and I was proud that our decision to pass on the arcade was a great one, we got that done pretty quickly, 20 mintues to be exact.

Then, the second third of the town, did successfully cleaned out the garbage bin AND buried it into the ground. That leaves us with one more task to complete with 15 minutes left on the clock

And that task is the spaghetti meal, it took everyone to successfully get enough pasta but the sauce has to be boiling hot for the task to be successful, but since we failed to get that microwave from the third challenge, we were not successful, so we had to settle for 2 $50,000 gold stars as the prize.

But then, the host said something that was a surprise, "you know that we invited special guests over for your party, guess who? It's the people that you haven't see in 39 days!" Then guylan responded "My mom!" The host said "Run as fast as you can and see them!"

Every one of the remaining 34 pioneers did run as fast as possible to see their parents. We were all crying and joyful at the same time. The parents asked me, "is this the hardest thing you have done?" I responded, "Yeah, it was pretty tough without a doubt, but I did managed to survive!"

We then showed our parents the things we have done, like the chicken feet from the chickens we killed, our sleeping bags on the floor in our bunks. Heck, my parents even tried to haul water over their heads, and they also tried milking a goat! This was easily one of the most hilarious moments ever, getting to see the embarrassment on my own parent's faces!

After taking a whole tour of the town, we finally eat our spaghetti meal with the rest of the 34 remaining kids and their parents.

But all in the sudden the host, came out of the saloon, and he said "that the two $50,000 gold stars that you guys earned earlier today can only be won by people that won a gold star earlier in the season, and they can't be on council right now! But before the council can decide who gets these two big pieces of gold, the rest of the town has to vote for the two people that think deserve it that meets both criteria.

So, after we cleaned out the bunk houses and said good bye to them for the final time, we were in the town hall with our parents and the host said to the 29 other people not on council to vote for two people that won a gold star but is NOT on the council. Afterwards, we would count all votes and narrow down the list of possible winners to 5 people.

After some time counting the votes, the host came back and said the five finalists for these two gold stars are Sophia, Migle, Laurel, Hunter and Morgan.

Now with the first phase out of the way, it's all up to you council to name the two winners of the $50,000 gold stars, the first name you selected will be the runner-up and the second one will be the winner of Kid Nation with a mystery prize.

The council discussed it over, and we all agreed that Hunter will finish 5th. Then the matter becomes who will finish 4th and 3rd. After a 10 minute debate, we decided that Morgan will be 4th, and Laurel will be 3rd. Now the question becomes who win Kid Nation and who will finish runner-up. After so much back and forth between the two finalists, we ultimately selected our winner, but first we have to announce our runner-up.

Making the runner-up announcement was Zach: "this person was awesome all throughout the season, and made an immediate impact from day 1, despite this person got stuck on an inferior team, the runner-up is . . . Sophia!

Sophia went up and accepted the $50,000 gold star, and said, this experience has been the best of times and the worst of times, but in the end, I did indeed deserve this prize to top off this experiment, thank you council."

The host said, "1 gold star given, one more to go, this one will be for the winner of kid nation. Council, have you decided who will be the winner of the $50,000 plus the mystery prize?

We all said, "Yes!" then the host told us to make the announcement. Then in comes the biggest moment of my short life, I have to make the announcement of the winner of Kid Nation.

I then said, "Well, thank you for the 34 people and their parents to come here to witness a historical moment in Reality TV history. First, I would like to say that this experience is life-changing for everyone that did survive the 40 days and all of you should thank yourselves for that accomplishment. Now I need to say a little something about our winner. First off, this person was on the best team throughout the season, and she has everything, maturity, smarts, two terms as council member, and without a doubt the makeup to succeed in the future, the winner of Kid Nation is . . . Migle!

Her parents were shocked to the bone, and Migle then slowly realized that she has won not only the $50,000 gold star but the mystery prize as well!

The host said, "Well, who would have thought that the last person that won a $20,000 gold star would end up being the winner of this show! What caused this to change all of the sudden, explain to us council."

Anjay then said, "First off, it was obvious that she was a well-liked person all throughout the town not only to the older kids but to the younger kids as well. Second off, she has a great skillset, just enough physical strength but excellent qualifications as a two-term council member to justify consideration for the grand prize. But the most unique thing about her, is without a doubt, her moments in the showdowns and in the clutch, when the team needed her through some tough times, she did deliver and then some. And that's the reason why the council without a doubt determined Migle to be the winner of the show."

Then the host asked Migle, "Well you have won $70,000 within the last two days, but get ready for the ultimate shocker." Well, the winner of kid nation, not only gets the $50,000 gold star, but also three things. First, you get to have your own Kid Nation "Victory" trophy on display in your bedroom back home. Second, you get to have your own Custom Jostens Ring, just like the football players that win the super bowl every year! Finally, you will get a replica of the monument that the town didn't choose custom fitted anywhere in your parent's house!

The host then said, "Now do you guys have any final words you want to say before you say goodbye to bonanza?"  
First up was Sophia: "First off I would like that say, I would like to apologize to anyone that I had bossed around, or offended. You all had changed my life for the better."

Next up was Mike: "I would like to say that I love everyone here."

Then Morgan said, "You guys had improve on your swearing, and if it wasn't for you I won't be here."

Laurel said, "I made friendships that will last a lifetime, and we prove the world that we can do it."

Migle said "we all love each other like brothers and sisters and we all should be proud for that reason alone."

Afterwards, the host then asked the parents if they want to add thing else.

Mike's Mom said it the best, "thank you for giving so much hope for our future, and we will always believe in all of you no matter what."

Then the dreaded final words from the host comes late in the night, "pioneers, it's that time that you all have been dreading, to head outside, grab your bags and say goodbye to each other for the last time ever. Goodbye pioneers we will miss you and keep building a better world."

We then went outside and grab our bags and first thing I did was to say Goodbye to Kelsey, "It was a joy being with you and we should keep in touch sometime soon."

Next, I went to my teammates from both the green and blue teams, and said to all of them, It was awesome being teammates with all of you, you were all special for different reasons, good luck for you future."

Finally, I said goodbye to my fellow council members, Zach, Anjay, Olivia, and Michael. I said, "it was awesome working as a team, good luck and remember this moment for the rest of your lives."

But all in the sudden, the producer said to meet us at the saloon for one last time. We decided to sing along to"we are the champions" for Migle.

Then we all decided to give a victory lap inside and around the town in our parent's vehicles single file and then we finally leave the town for good. I was looking behind from the side of the vehicle, and see bonanza city fading away from the horizon under the midnight sky.

THE END!


End file.
